Search results for: virtual place

Authors: Arun Das

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Indian agriculture is acclaimed from the dates of Indus civilization (2500 BC). Since this time until the day, there were tremendous expansion in terms of space and technology has taken place. Abrupt growth in technology took place past one and half century. Consequent to this development, the land which was brought under agriculture in the initial stages of introducing agriculture for the first time, that land is not possessing the same physical condition. Either it has lost the productive capacity or modified into semi agriculture land. On the grounds of its capacity and interwoven characteristics seven phases of agriculture scenario has been identified. Most of the land is on the march of desertification. Identifying the stages and the phase of the agriculture scenario is most relevant from the point of view of food security at regional, national and at global level. Secondly decisive measure can put back the degenerating environmental condition into arrest. GIS and Remote sensing applications have been used to identify the phases of agriculture.

Keywords: agriculture phases, desertification, deforestation, foods security, transmigration

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Authors: Girish Prayag, Wantanee Suntikul, Elizabeth Agyeiwaah

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Current research on dark tourism largely follows residents’ perspectives with limited evaluations of tourists’ experiences. Unravelling the case of a dark heritage site in Elmina, Ghana, this paper develops a theoretical model to understand the relationships among four constructs namely, motivation, tourism impacts, place attachment, and satisfaction. Based on a sample of 414 domestic tourists, PLS-SEM confirmed several relationships and inter-relationships among the four constructs. For example, motivation had a positive relationship with perceptions of positive and negative tourism impacts suggesting that the more tourists were motivated to visit the site for cultural/learning experiences, the more positive and negative tourism impacts they perceived. Implications for dark tourism and heritage site management are offered.

Keywords: dark tourism, motivation, place attachment, tourism impacts

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Authors: Derrick Mirindi, Frederic Mirindi, Oluwakemi Oshineye

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The ongoing high rate of construction project failures worldwide is often blamed on the difficulties of managing stakeholders. This highlights the crucial role of strategic management (SM) in achieving project success. This study investigates how integrating digital tools into the SM framework can effectively address stakeholder-related challenges. This work specifically focuses on the impact of evolving digital tools, such as Project Management Software (PMS) (e.g., Basecamp and Wrike), Building Information Modeling (BIM) (e.g., Tekla BIMsight and Autodesk Navisworks), Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) (e.g., Microsoft HoloLens), drones and remote monitoring, and social media and Web-Based platforms, in improving stakeholder engagement and project outcomes. Through existing literature with examples of failed projects, the study highlights how the evolution of digital tools will serve as facilitators within the strategic management process. These tools offer benefits such as real-time data access, enhanced visualization, and more efficient workflows to mitigate stakeholder challenges in construction projects. The findings indicate that integrating digital tools with SM principles effectively addresses stakeholder challenges, resulting in improved project outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction. The research advocates for a combined approach that embraces both strategic management and digital innovation to navigate the complex stakeholder landscape in construction projects.

Keywords: strategic management, digital tools, virtual and augmented reality, stakeholder management, building information modeling, project management software

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Authors: Charléa M. Smith, Raiden L. Schodowski, Arletty Pinel

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Faculty of Medical Sciences of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona in Kingston, Jamaica, had to rapidly migrate to digital and blended learning. Students in the preclinical stage of the program transitioned to full-time online learning, while students in the clinical stage experienced decreased daily patient contact and the implementation of a blend of online lectures and virtual clinical practice. Such sudden changes were coupled with the institutional pressure of the need to introduce a novel approach to education without much time for preparation, as well as additional strain endured by the faculty, who were overwhelmed by serving as frontline workers. During the period July 20 to August 23, 2021, this study surveyed preclinical and clinical students to capture their experiences with these changes and their recommendations for future use of digital modalities of learning to enhance medical education. It was conducted with a fellow student of the 2021 cohort of the MultiPod mentoring program. A questionnaire was developed and distributed digitally via WhatsApp to all medical students of the UWI Mona campus to assess students’ experiences and perceptions of the advantages, challenges, and impact on individual knowledge proficiencies brought about by the transition to predominantly digital learning environments. 108 students replied, 53.7% preclinical and 46.3% clinical. 67.6% of the total were female and 30.6 % were male; 1.8% did not identify themselves by gender. 67.2% of preclinical students preferred blended learning and 60.3% considered that the content presented did not prepare them for clinical work. Only 31% considered that the online classes were interactive and encouraged student participation. 84.5% missed socialization with classmates and friends and 79.3% missed a focused environment for learning. 80% of the clinical students felt that they had not learned all that they expected and only 34% had virtual interaction with patients, mostly by telephone and video calls. Observing direct consultations was considered the most useful, yet this was the least-used modality. 96% of the preclinical students and 100% of the clinical ones supplemented their learning with additional online tools. The main recommendations from the survey are the use of interactive teaching strategies, more discussion time with lecturers, and increased virtual interactions with patients. Universities are returning to face-to-face learning, yet it is unlikely that blended education will disappear. This study demonstrates that students’ perceptions of their experience during mobility restrictions must be taken into consideration in creating more effective, inclusive, and efficient blended learning opportunities.

Keywords: blended learning, digital learning, medical education, student perceptions

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Authors: Ibrahim M. Metwally

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Have you ever thought that earth was not the same earth we live on? Was it bigger or smaller? Was it a great continent surrounded by huge ocean as Alfred Wegener (1912) claimed? Earth is the most amazing planet in our Milky Way galaxy and may be in the universe. It is the only deformed planet that has a variable orbit around the sun and the only planet that has water on its surface. How did earth deformation take place? What does cause earth to deform? What are the results of earth deformation? How does its orbit around the sun change? First earth size computation can be achieved only considering the quantum of iron and nickel rested into earth core. This paper introduces a new theory “Earth expansion Theory”. The principles of “Earth Expansion Theory” are leading to new approaches and concepts to interpret whole earth dynamics and its geological and environmental changes. This theory is not an attempt to unify the two divergent dominant theories of continental drift, plate tectonic theory and earth expansion theory. The new theory is unique since it has a mathematical derivation, explains all the change to and around earth in terms of geological and environmental changes, and answers all unanswered questions in other theories. This paper presents the basic of the introduced theory and discusses the mechanism of earth expansion and how it took place, the forces that made the expansion. The mechanisms of earth size change from its spherical shape with radius about 3447.6 km to an elliptic shape of major radius about 6378.1 km and minor radius of about 6356.8 km and how it took place, are introduced and discussed. This article also introduces, in a more realistic explanation the formation of oceans and seas, the preparation of river formation. It also addresses the role of iron in earth size enlargement process within the continuum mechanics framework.

Keywords: earth size, earth expansion, continuum mechanics, continental and ocean formation

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Authors: Mirindi Derrick, Mirindi Frederic, Oluwakemi Oshineye

Abstract:

Abstract: The ongoing high rate of construction project failures worldwide is often blamed on the difficulties of managing stakeholders. This highlights the crucial role of strategic management (SM) in achieving project success. This study investigates how integrating digital tools into the SM framework can effectively address stakeholder-related challenges. This work specifically focuses on the impact of evolving digital tools, such as Project Management Software (PMS) (e.g., Basecamp and Wrike), Building Information Modeling (BIM) (e.g., Tekla BIMsight and Autodesk Navisworks), Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) (e.g., Microsoft HoloLens), drones and remote monitoring, and social media and Web-Based platforms, in improving stakeholder engagement and project outcomes. Through existing literature with examples of failed projects, the study highlights how the evolution of digital tools will serve as facilitators within the strategic management process. These tools offer benefits such as real-time data access, enhanced visualization, and more efficient workflows to mitigate stakeholder challenges in construction projects. The findings indicate that integrating digital tools with SM principles effectively addresses stakeholder challenges, resulting in improved project outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction. The research advocates for a combined approach that embraces both strategic management and digital innovation to navigate the complex stakeholder landscape in construction projects.

Keywords: strategic management, digital tools, virtual and augmented reality, stakeholder management, building information modeling, project management software

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Authors: Sanjin Kršćanski, Josip Brnić

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Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) is a method used for calculating stress intensity factor (SIF) of a cracked body that is easily implemented on top of basic finite element (FE) codes and as such can be applied on the various component geometries. It is a relatively simple method that does not require any special finite elements to be used and is usually used for calculating stress intensity factors at the crack tip for components made of brittle materials. This paper studies applicability and accuracy of VCCT applied on standard metal specimens containing trough thickness crack, subjected to an in-plane bending load. Finite element analyses were performed using regular 4-node, regular 8-node and a modified quarter-point 8-node 2D elements. Stress intensity factor was calculated from the FE model results for a given crack length, using data available from FE analysis and a custom programmed algorithm based on virtual crack closure technique. Influence of the finite element size on the accuracy of calculated SIF was also studied. The final part of this paper includes a comparison of calculated stress intensity factors with results obtained from analytical expressions found in available literature and in ASTM standard. Results calculated by this algorithm based on VCCT were found to be in good correlation with results obtained with mentioned analytical expressions.

Keywords: VCCT, stress intensity factor, finite element analysis, 2D finite elements, bending

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Authors: Michael Augustus Akagbor

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When discussing human rights, the philosophical underpinnings of discussions about African realities are controversial, often hinging on whether human rights existed in pre-colonial Africa as not just a philosophy of thought but also a way of imagining the individual's place in society. Critics have often fixated on what many argue is the lack of socio-political structures that could have fostered the emergence and development of human rights contraptions in “mechanical” solidarities such as pre-colonial agrarian African societies. This paper debunks the notion that the perceived ‘absence’ of an ‘advanced’ and differentiated social system where the philosophical imaginaries of Hobbes and Locke could have emerged is not grounds to deny the imagined place of the human rights of the ‘individual’ in pre-colonial Africa. The paper adopts the qualitative methodology by reviewing and analyzing secondary data from various sources to advance the view that the concepts of human rights are not alien to indigenous Africa’s legal and political processes.

Keywords: human rights, reality, philosophical, Africa, individual

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Authors: Virendra Nath, Vipin Kumar

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Background: TypeII Diabetes mellitus is a foremost health problem worldwide, predisposing to increased mortality and morbidity. Undesirable effects of the current medications have prompted the researcher to develop more potential drug(s) against the disease. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear receptors family and take part in a vital role in the regulation of metabolic equilibrium. They can induce or repress genes associated with adipogenesis, lipid, and glucose metabolism. Aims: Investigation of PPARα/γ agonistic hits were screened by hierarchical virtual screening followed by molecular dynamics simulation and knowledge-based structure-activity relation (SAR) analysis using approved PPAR α/γ dual agonist. Methods: The PPARα/γ agonistic activity of compounds was searched by using Maestro through structure-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation application. Virtual screening of nuclear-receptor ligands was done, and the binding modes with protein-ligand interactions of newer entity(s) were investigated. Further, binding energy prediction, Stability studies using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of PPARα and γ complex was performed with the most promising hit along with the structural comparative analysis of approved PPARα/γ agonists with screened hit was done for knowledge-based SAR. Results and Discussion: The silicone chip-based approach recognized the most capable nine hits and had better predictive binding energy as compared to the reference drug compound (Tesaglitazar). In this study, the key amino acid residues of binding pockets of both targets PPARα/γ were acknowledged as essential and were found to be associated in the key interactions with the most potential dual hit (ChemDiv-3269-0443). Stability studies using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of PPARα and γ complex was performed with the most promising hit and found root mean square deviation (RMSD) stabile around 2Å and 2.1Å, respectively. Frequency distribution data also revealed that the key residues of both proteins showed maximum contacts with a potent hit during the MD simulation of 20 nanoseconds (ns). The knowledge-based SAR studies of PPARα/γ agonists were studied using 2D structures of approved drugs like aleglitazar, tesaglitazar, etc. for successful designing and synthesis of compounds PPARγ agonistic candidates with anti-hyperlipidimic potential.

Keywords: computational, diabetes, PPAR, simulation

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Authors: Camila Freire Barrios, Gonzalo Rivera Talavera

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The importance of public spaces has been shown for many years, and in different disciplines, with one example being their ability for developing a sustainable social environment, especially in mega cities like Lima. The aim of this study was to explore the process of space appropriation that occurs in the Peripheral Library of the district El Agustino in Lima, Peru. Space appropriation is a process by which people develop a link with a place within a specific sociocultural context. This process has been related to positive outcomes, such as: participation and in the development of compassionate behaviors with these places. To achieve the purpose of the research, a qualitative design was selected because this will allowed exploring in deep the process in an specific context. The study interviewed six adults, all of whom were deliberately chosen to have the longest residence time in the district and also utilized the library the most. In a complementary manner, two children and one adolescent were interviewed. Likewise, two observations were made on a weekday and weekend, and public documentation information was collected. As a result, five categories linked to this process were identified. It was found that the process of space appropriation begins with the needs of the people who arrive at the library, which provides benefits to these people by fulfilling them. Next in the process, through the construction of meanings, the library is then valued as a pleasant, productive, safe and regulated place; as a result, people become identified with the library. The identification generated is subsequently reflected in the level of participation that the person has in the library, which may go in a continuum from no participating at all to a more direct involvement in the library activities, as well as voluntary and altruistic work. Finally, this process leads to the library becoming part of the neighborhood. This study allows having a better understanding of how sociospatial processes work in a Latinamerican context and in cities like Lima, where the third of the country’s population lives. Also, Lima has grown in the past 50 years in a excessively way and with lack of planification. Therefore, these results brings new research questions and highlights the importance of learning how to design public spaces in order to promote these processes to develop.

Keywords: bond with the place, place identity, public spaces, space appropriation

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Authors: Shinta Ardiana Sari, Dini Puti Angelia

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A high number of urban population in Jakarta has been a substantial issue for mobility strategy. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) becomes one of the strategies to improve community livability based on the design of transit place and the system of its context. TOD principle is trying to win over pedestrian motorization habit, makes people would rather transit and travel more than using private vehicle. Train station takes the main role as the catalyst to emerge TOD, in Jakarta this role will be taken by Commuter line and the future MRT. For advancing its development, architectural design perspective is needed to perform evaluation while seeking for the strategies between accessibility transportation modes with convenience and safety for increasing human behavioral intention. This paper discovers design strategy for transit place that appropriates with Jakarta condition use the basic theories of liminal space and transit-oriented development goal. This paper use evidence-based approach with typology method to analyze the present condition of Commuter Line station in Jakarta and precedent of Asian Cities, Tokyo and Seoul, as the secondary sources, and also with numbers of valid questionnaires. Furthermore, the result of this paper aims to the emerging of a transit-oriented community by giving design requirements and suggestion transportation policies preparing for the operational of MRT in the future Jakarta and other similar cities.

Keywords: station design, transit place, transit-oriented development, urban

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Authors: Z. Xu

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Immersive virtual reality (VR) has gained momentum in humanitarian communication due to its utopian promises of co-presence, immediacy, and transcendence. These potential benefits have led the United Nations (UN) to tirelessly produce and distribute VR series to evoke global empathy and encourage policymakers, philanthropic business tycoons and citizens around the world to actually do something (i.e. give a donation). However, it is unclear whether or not VR can cultivate cosmopolitans with a sense of social responsibility towards the geographically, socially/culturally and morally mediated misfortune of faraway others. Drawing upon existing works on the mediation of distant suffering, this article constructs an analytical framework to articulate the issue. Applying this framework on a case study of five of the UN’s VR pieces, the article identifies three paradoxes that exist between cyber-utopian and cyber-dystopian narratives. In the “paradox of distance”, VR relies on the notions of “presence” and “storyliving” to implicitly link audiences spatially and temporally to distant suffering, creating global connectivity and reducing perceived distances between audiences and others; yet it also enables audiences to fully occupy the point of view of distant sufferers (creating too close/absolute proximity), which may cause them to feel naive self-righteousness or narcissism with their pleasures and desire, thereby destroying the “proper distance”. In the “paradox of agency”, VR simulates a superficially “real” encounter for visual intimacy, thereby establishing an “audiences–beneficiary” relationship in humanitarian communication; yet in this case the mediated hyperreality is not an authentic reality, and its simulation does not fill the gap between reality and the virtual world. In the “paradox of the hierarchies of human life”, VR enables an audience to experience virtually fundamental “freedom”, epitomizing an attitude of cultural relativism that informs a great deal of contemporary multiculturalism, providing vast possibilities for a more egalitarian representation of distant sufferers; yet it also takes the spectator’s personally empathic feelings as the focus of intervention, rather than structural inequality and political exclusion (an economic and political power relations of viewing). Thus, the audience can potentially remain trapped within the minefield of hegemonic humanitarianism. This study is significant in two respects. First, it advances the turn of digitalization in studies of media and morality in the polymedia milieu; it is motivated by the necessary call for a move beyond traditional technological environments to arrive at a more novel understanding of the asymmetry of power between the safety of spectators and the vulnerability of mediated sufferers. Second, it not only reminds humanitarian journalists and NGOs that they should not rely entirely on the richer news experience or powerful response-ability enabled by VR to gain a “moral bond” with distant sufferers, but also argues that when fully-fledged VR technology is developed, it can serve as a kind of alchemy and should not be underestimated merely as a “bugaboo” of an alarmist philosophical and fictional dystopia.

Keywords: audience, cosmopolitan, distant suffering, virtual reality, humanitarian communication

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Authors: Mohammed Mamdouh Mohammed, Ali Zain Elabdeen Heikal, Hassan Mahdy, Sherif El-Badawy

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The main purpose of this research is to assess the effectiveness of the Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR) technique in asphalt maintenance by analyzing performance outcomes. To achieve this, fifteen CIR mixtures were prepared using slow-setting emulsified asphalt as the recycling agent, with percentages ranging from 2% to 4% in 0.5% increments. Additionally, pure water was incorporated in percentages ranging from 2% to 4% in 1% increments, and Portland cement was added at a constant content of 1%. The components were mixed at room temperature and subsequently compacted using a gyratory compactor with 150 gyrations. Prior to testing, the samples underwent a two-stage treatment process: initially, they were placed in an oven at 60°C for 48 hours, followed by a 24-hour period of air curing. The Hamburg wheel tracking test was performed to evaluate the samples’ resistance to rutting. Additionally, the Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) test and the Semi-Circular Beam (SCB) test were conducted to assess their resistance to cracking. Upon analyzing the test results, it was observed that the samples’ resistance to rutting decreased with higher asphalt and moisture content. In contrast, ITS and SCB tests revealed that the samples’ resistance to cracking initially increased with higher asphalt and moisture content, peaking at a certain point, and then decreased, forming a bell-curve pattern.

Keywords: cold in-place, indirect tensile strength, recycling, emulsified asphalt, semi-circular beam

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Authors: Barbara Janari

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In this paper it is argued that the effect of the disjunctive temporality in Summertime (the third of J.M. Coetzee’s fictionalised memoirs) is two-fold: firstly, it reflects the memoir’s ambivalent, contradictory representations of place in order to emphasize the fractured sense of self growing up in South Africa during apartheid entailed for Coetzee. Secondly, it reconceives the autobiographical discourse as one that foregrounds the inherent fictionality of all texts. The memoir’s narrative is filtered through intricate textual strategies that disrupt the chronological movement of the narrative, evoking the labyrinthine ways in which the past and present intersect and interpenetrate each other. It is framed by entries from Coetzee’s Notebooks: it opens with entries that cover the years 1972–1975, and ends with a number of undated fragments from his Notebooks. Most of the entries include a short ‘memo’ at the end, added between 1999 and 2000. While the memos follow the Notebook entries in the text, they are separated by decades. Between the Notebook entries is a series of interviews conducted by Vincent, the text’s putative biographer, between 2007 and 2008, based on recollections from five people who had known Coetzee in the 1970s – a key period in John’s life as it marks both his return to South Africa after a failed emigration attempt to America, and the beginning of his writing career, with the publication of Dusklands in 1974. The relationship between the memoir’s various parts is a key feature of Coetzee’s representation of place in Summertime, which is constructed as a composite one in which the principle of reflexive referencing has to be adopted. In other words, readers have to suspend individual references temporarily until the relationships between the parts have been connected to each other. In order to apprehend meaning in the text, the disparate narrative elements have to first be tied together. In this text, then, the experience of time as ordered and chronological is ruptured. Instead, the memoir’s themes and patterns become apparent most clearly through reflexive referencing, by which relationships between disparate sections of the text are linked. The image of the fictional John that emerges from the text is a composite of this John and the author, J.M. Coetzee, and is one which embodies Coetzee’s often fraught relationship with his home country, South Africa.

Keywords: autobiography, place, reflexive referencing, temporality

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Authors: Laleh Boroumand, Muhammad Shiraz, Abdullah Gani, Rashid Hafeez Khokhar

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Cloud computing being the use of hardware and software that are delivered as a service over a network has its application in the area of health care. Due to the emergency cases reported in most of the medical centers, prompt for an efficient scheme to make health data available with less response time. To this end, we propose a mobile global healthcare village (MGHV) model that combines the components of three deployment model which include country, continent and global health cloud to help in solving the problem mentioned above. In the creation of continent model, two (2) data centers are created of which one is local and the other is global. The local replay the request of residence within the continent, whereas the global replay the requirements of others. With the methods adopted, there is an assurance of the availability of relevant medical data to patients, specialists, and emergency staffs regardless of locations and time. From our intensive experiment using the simulation approach, it was observed that, broker policy scheme with respect to optimized response time, yields a very good performance in terms of reduction in response time. Though, our results are comparable to others when there is an increase in the number of virtual machines (80-640 virtual machines). The proportionality in increase of response time is within 9%. The results gotten from our simulation experiments shows that utilizing MGHV leads to the reduction of health care expenditures and helps in solving the problems of unqualified medical staffs faced by both developed and developing countries.

Keywords: cloud computing (MCC), e-healthcare, availability, response time, service broker policy

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Authors: Danilo Pesce, Emilio Paolucci, Mariolina Affatato

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Looking at the future and at the post-digital era, innovations commonly tend to dismiss the old and replace it with the new. The aim of this research is to study the role that digital innovation can play alongside the information chain within the traditional sectors and the subsequent value creation opportunities that actors and stakeholders can exploit. By drawing on a wide body of literature on innovation and strategic management and by conducting a case study on the cultural heritage industry, namely Google Arts & Culture, this study shows that technology augments complements, and amplifies the way people experience their cultural interests and experience. Furthermore, the study shows a process of democratization of art since museums can exploit new digital and virtual ways to distribute art globally. Moreover, new needs arose from the 2020 pandemic that hit and forced the world to a state of cultural fasting and caused a radical transformation of the paradigm online vs. onsite. Finally, the study highlights the capabilities that are emerging at different stages of the value chain, owing to the technological innovation available in the market. In essence, this research underlines the role of Google in allowing museums to reach users worldwide, thus unlocking new mechanisms of value creation in the cultural heritage industry. Likewise, this study points out how Google provides value to users by means of increasing the provision of artworks, improving the audience engagement and virtual experience, and providing new ways to access the online contents. The paper ends with a discussion of managerial and policy-making implications.

Keywords: big data, digital platforms, digital transformation, digitization, Google Arts and Culture, stakeholders’ interests

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Authors: M. Chiliza, H. P. Mbukwane, P Masita, H. Rutto

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Acid mine drainage (AMD) one of the main pollutants of water in many countries that have mining activities. AMD results from the oxidation of pyrite and other metal sulfides. When these metals gets exposed to moisture and oxygen, leaching takes place releasing sulphate and Iron. Acid drainage is often noted by 'yellow boy,' an orange-yellow substance that occurs when the pH of acidic mine-influenced water raises above pH 3, so that the previously dissolved iron precipitates out. The possibility of using environmentally friendly silane and phosphate based coatings on pyrite to remediate acid mine drainage and prevention at source was investigated. The results showed that both coatings reduced chemical oxidation of pyrite based on Fe and sulphate release. Furthermore, it was found that silane based coating performs better when coating synthesis take place in a basic hydrolysis than in an acidic state.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, pyrite, silane, phosphate

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Authors: Fredrick Forster, Gareth Ward, Matthew Tubby, Pamela Lithgow, Anne Nortcliffe

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This paper presents the results from a research study of random adult participants accessing one of four different commercially available Virtual Reality (VR) Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) and completing a post user experience reflection questionnaire. The research sort to understand how inclusive commercially available VR HMDs are and identify any associated barriers that could impact the widespread adoption of the devices, specifically in Higher Education (HE). In the UK, education providers are legally required under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure all education facilities are inclusive and reasonable adjustments can be applied appropriately. The research specifically aimed to identify the considerations that academics and learning technologists need to make when adopting the use of commercial VR HMDs in HE classrooms, namely cybersickness, user comfort, Interpupillary Distance, inclusiveness, and user perceptions of VR. The research approach was designed to build upon previously published research on user reflections on presence, usability, and overall HMD comfort, using quantitative and qualitative research methods by way of a questionnaire. The quantitative data included the recording of physical characteristics such as the distance between eye pupils, known as Interpupillary Distance (IPD). VR HMDs require each user’s IPD measurement to enable the focusing of the VR HMDs virtual camera output to the right position in front of the eyes of the user. In addition, the questionnaire captured users’ qualitative reflections and evaluations of the broader accessibility characteristics of the VR HMDs. The initial research activity was accomplished by enabling a random sample of visitors, staff, and students at Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent to use a VR HMD for a set period of time and asking them to complete the post user experience questionnaire. The study identified that there is little correlation between users who experience cyber sickness and car sickness. Also, users with a smaller IPD than average (typically associated with females) were able to use the VR HMDs successfully; however, users with a larger than average IPD reported an impeded experience. This indicates that there is reduced inclusiveness for the tested VR HMDs for users with a higher-than-average IPD which is typically associated with males of certain ethnicities. As action education research, these initial findings will be used to refine the research method and conduct further investigations with the aim to provide verification and validation of the accessibility of current commercial VR HMDs. The conference presentation will report on the research results of the initial study and subsequent follow up studies with a larger variety of adult volunteers.

Keywords: virtual reality, education technology, inclusive technology, higher education

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Authors: Zhang Songning, Guan Zheng, Ci Yan, Ding Gangyi

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The application of physical simulation engines in collaborative editing systems has an important background and role. Firstly, physical simulation engines can provide real-world physical simulations, enabling users to interact and collaborate in real time in virtual environments. This provides a more intuitive and immersive experience for collaborative editing systems, allowing users to more accurately perceive and understand various elements and operations in collaborative editing. Secondly, through physical simulation engines, different users can share virtual space and perform real-time collaborative editing within it. This real-time sharing and collaborative editing method helps to synchronize information among team members and improve the efficiency of collaborative work. Through experiments, the average model transmission speed of a single person in the collaborative editing system has increased by 141.91%; the average model processing speed of a single person has increased by 134.2%; the average processing flow rate of a single person has increased by 175.19%; the overall efficiency improvement rate of a single person has increased by 150.43%. With the increase in the number of users, the overall efficiency remains stable, and the physical simulation engine running status collaborative editing system also has horizontal scalability. It is not difficult to see that the design and implementation of a collaborative editing system based on physical simulation engines not only enriches the user experience but also optimizes the effectiveness of team collaboration, providing new possibilities for collaborative work.

Keywords: physics engine, simulation technology, collaborative editing, system design, data transmission

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Authors: Rahul Jain, Pradhir Parmar, Dhruvesh Patel

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Planning and drawing are the important aspects of civil engineering. For testing theories about spatial location and interaction between land uses and related activities the computer based solution of urban models are used. The planner’s primary interest is in creation of 3D models of building and to obtain the terrain surface so that he can do urban morphological mappings, virtual reality, disaster management, fly through generation, visualization etc. 3D city models have a variety of applications in urban studies. Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is an ongoing construction site between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. It will be built on 3590000 m2 having a geographical coordinates of North Latitude 23°9’5’’N to 23°10’55’’ and East Longitude 72°42’2’’E to 72°42’16’’E. Therefore to develop 3D city models of GIFT city, the base map of the city is collected from GIFT office. Differential Geographical Positioning System (DGPS) is used to collect the Ground Control Points (GCP) from the field. The GCP points are used for the registration of base map in QGIS. The registered map is projected in WGS 84/UTM zone 43N grid and digitized with the help of various shapefile tools in QGIS. The approximate height of the buildings that are going to build is collected from the GIFT office and placed on the attribute table of each layer created using shapefile tools. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 1 Arc-Second Global (30 m X 30 m) grid data is used to generate the terrain of GIFT city. The Google Satellite Map is used to place on the background to get the exact location of the GIFT city. Various plugins and tools in QGIS are used to convert the raster layer of the base map of GIFT city into 3D model. The fly through tool is used for capturing and viewing the entire area in 3D of the city. This paper discusses all techniques and their usefulness in 3D city model creation from the GCP, base map, SRTM and QGIS.

Keywords: 3D model, DGPS, GIFT City, QGIS, SRTM

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Authors: Shannon Clayton

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In an effort to explore the potential transformation of North American postwar suburbs, this M.Arch thesis actively engages in the ongoing critique of modernism from the mid 20th century to the present. Contemporary urban design practice has emerged out of the reaction to orthodox modernism. Typically, new suburban development falls into one of two strategies; an attempt to replicate pre-war fabric that never existed, or a reliance on high-density to create instant urbanism. In both cases, the critical role of architecture has been grossly undervalued. Ironically, it is the denial of suburbia’s inherent modernity that has served to prevent genuine place-making. As history demonstrates, modernism is not antithetical to architecture and place. In the postwar years, a critical discussion emerged amongst architects, which sought to evolve modernism beyond functionalism. This was demonstrated through critical discussions on image, experience, and monumentality. As well as increased interest in civic space, and investigations into mat urbanism and the megastructure. The undercurrent within these explorations was a belief that the scale and complexity of modern development could become an opportunity to create urbanism, rather than squander it. This critical discourse has continued through architectural work in the Netherlands and Denmark since the early 1990s, where an emphasis on visual variety, human scale, and public interaction has been given high priority. This thesis applies principles from this ongoing dialogue, and identifies hidden potential within existing North American suburban networks. As a result, the project re-evaluates the legacy of the master plan from a contemporary perspective.

Keywords: urbanism, modernism, suburbia, place-making

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Authors: S. Agheb, G. Ledwich, G.Walker, Z.Tong

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Frequency control has become more of concern for reliable operation of interconnected power systems due to the integration of low inertia renewable energy sources to the grid and their volatility. Also, in case of a sudden fault, the system has less time to recover before widespread blackouts. Electric Vehicles (EV)s have the potential to cooperate in the Emergency Frequency Regulation (EFR) by a nonlinear control of the power system in case of large disturbances. The time is not adequate to communicate with each individual EV on emergency cases, and thus, an aggregate model is necessary for a quick response to prevent from much frequency deviation and the occurrence of any blackout. In this work, an aggregate of EVs is modelled as a big virtual battery in each area considering various aspects of uncertainty such as the number of connected EVs and their initial State of Charge (SOC) as stochastic variables. A control law was proposed and applied to the aggregate model using Lyapunov energy function to maximize the rate of reduction of total kinetic energy in a two-area network after the occurrence of a fault. The control methods are primarily based on the charging/ discharging control of available EVs as shunt capacity in the distribution system. Three different cases were studied considering the locational aspect of the model with the virtual EV either in the center of the two areas or in the corners. The simulation results showed that EVs could help the generator lose its kinetic energy in a short time after a contingency. Earlier estimation of possible contributions of EVs can help the supervisory control level to transmit a prompt control signal to the subsystems such as the aggregator agents and the grid. Thus, the percentage of EVs contribution for EFR will be characterized in the future as the goal of this study.

Keywords: emergency frequency regulation, electric vehicle, EV, aggregation, Lyapunov energy function

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Authors: Anu Krishna

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Cardamom Hills geographically falls into the Western Ghat region in the state of Kerala (India). The fame of these hills dates back to antiquity as the abode of various indigenous communities and treasure house of spices like cardamom. With the colonial conquest over the region, the evergreen forests got converted into zones of mono-cropping with commercial crops such as coffee, tea, cardamom etc. on plantation basis; a process which has been further accentuated with the migration of settlers during the post-independent times. Curiously, when Cardamom Hills are better known today as the plantation belt of the country or as one of the most fostering grounds of agrarian capitalism producing the lion share of Indian cardamom, the indigenous communities of the place such as the Mannans got alienated of their ancestral lands, became inter-generational proletariats and got reduced into ‘segmented spaces’ called the settlements. While dispossession of land for plantations has dislocated the economic life of the Mannans, the migration of the settlers has resulted into a complete social, cultural, political and demographic dominion over them. This has not only relegated their existential relations, history, culture and association with the place but also condensed them as the ‘Other’ in their own territories. Therefore inquisitively, violation of rights of the communities like Mannans, encroachment of their lands, negation towards their very existence and distortion of their history gets defined as the ‘Manifest Destiny’ of the people and place whereby its inevitability gets manufactured. This paper is an attempt to elicit the ways in which the formation of Mannan settlements are interconnected to the historical reality and contemporary opulence of the plantation industry in the place. The arguments put forth by this study is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in various Mannan settlements in the cardamom hills. The study basically dwells on to the methodological premises of multi-sited ethnography wherein information was gathered from different sites such as settlements, plantations and other interactive spaces wherein the Mannans from the settlements engages in socio-economic, cultural and political relations. Such an attempt was made to understand in depth the associations and interactions that people in the settlements have among themselves and others. The study equally uses the method of oral history to understand the alternative history, the socio-cultural and economic life of the people before the importation of plantations to the place. The paper gauges into the ways in which settlements imprisons generations of Mannans into plantation work and acts as moulds for subservient, hardworking plantation labourers.

Keywords: Cardamom Hills, plantations, labourers, Mannans, segmented spaces, settlements

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Authors: Sareh Enjavi

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In recent years, the field of visual communication design has seen a significant shift in the way that art is created and consumed, with the advent of new technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. This paper explores the ways in which technology is changing the landscape of visual communication design, and how designers are incorporating new technological tools into their artistic practices. The primary objective of this research paper is to investigate the ways in which technology is influencing the creative process of designers and artists in the field of visual communication design. The paper also aims to examine the challenges and limitations that arise from the intersection of art and technology in visual communication design, and to identify strategies for overcoming these challenges. Drawing on examples from a range of fields, including advertising, fine art, and digital media, this paper highlights the exciting innovations that are emerging as artists and designers use technology to push the boundaries of traditional artistic expression. The paper argues that embracing technological innovation is essential for the continued evolution of visual communication design. By exploring the intersection of art and technology, designers can create new and exciting visual experiences that engage and inspire audiences in new ways. The research also contributes to the theoretical and methodological understanding of the intersection of art and technology, a topic that has gained significant attention in recent years. Ultimately, this paper emphasizes the importance of embracing innovation and experimentation in the field of visual communication design, and highlights the exciting innovations that are emerging as a result of the intersection of art and technology, and emphasizes the importance of embracing innovation and experimentation in the field of visual communication design.

Keywords: visual communication design, art and technology, virtual reality, interactive art, creative process

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Authors: N. M. Esa Abrar Khan

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This paper will describe how a city planning can be abusive and promote gentrification in Dhaka city area in an extreme remorseless way. To our knowledge, Dhaka is enormously overpopulated, and its somewhat unrest political situation and corruption is promoting not only bruised urban growth but also this growth leering people socially and mentally. Due to globalization, whole world is in a rat race of development fiesta and Bangladesh is no longer falling back in this race. Recent political agenda is to develop the country anyhow, whether it is a good development or not. In the name of development, Dhaka city is becoming overwhelmed with flyovers, needless shopping malls and commercial complexes. This drastic urbanization is promoting gentrification. Gentrification is the process of societal change which intimidate the existing group of people from a certain place and encouraging affluent group of people on that place and eventually they take the control of that place. Process of gentrification is more capitalistic rather socially democratic. Architects are indirectly or directly related with this social change and politics is the catalyst of these social alteration. The methodology of this paper was mainly dependent on mass interviews including political leaders and activist’s interviews. Also, photographic analysis, empirical research etc. helped to create this paper. Secondary data were collected from different published and unpublished documents, relevant research articles, and books. From the study, it is clearly can be said that architects and urban designers are promoting social imbalance. The paper tried to suggest how architects and other designers can help to resist gentrification and can remain the social heterogeneity.

Keywords: gentrification, migration, Bangladesh, urban, globalization, hybrid

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Authors: K.T Alade, A.F Lawal, A.A Omonori

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Construction is an everlasting activity across the globe. Likewise, the problem of delay in the construction industry is a global phenomenon. Although there are several reasons that may be responsible for delay during construction, this may vary from place to place and can be reduced to the minimum when identified. This study considered the major causes and effects of delay in the execution of construction projects in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Using literatures, a total number of 30 causes of construction delays were identified. The convenient sampling technique was used to select sixty respondents for a survey. The respondents comprise twenty-two (22) clients, eighteen consultants (18) and twenty (20) contractors. The analyses of the primary data revealed that the three most important causes of delay in construction projects in Akure, Ondo State Nigeria are poor site management and supervision, inadequate contractors experience and client’s financial difficulties. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were given on how the causes and effects of delay in construction can be mitigated.

Keywords: Akure, causes, construction projects, delay, effects

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Authors: Yixuan Peng

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Music tourism is the phenomenon of people visiting a place because of their association with music, as well as the process of creating an emotional attachment to a place through the connection between people and music. Music offers people the opportunity to immerse themselves in the local culture. Music tourism is increasingly recognized as an industry with economic and social impacts. People often come together for a common purpose of music at a certain time and place, such as concert, opera, or music workshop. This is very similar to the act of pilgrimage: the process of participation evokes strong emotions; it takes time and money to get to the destination; the gathering, and the emotional co-frequency. This study conducted further qualitative research using MAXQDA by applying the musical topophilia model with East Asians as interview subjects. There are three steps to traveling: before, during and after the trip. To date, 53 individuals living in East Asia have been interviewed one-on-one (online/offline) about their travel experiences. This part of the interview is limited to the two stages that are before and after travel. Based on the results of the interviews above, and as Europe has the most representative music industry and the richest variety of music genres. The " during the trip" phase of the observations and interviews were conducted in Europe and involved on-site music in Salzburg and London, including musical theater, street music, and musical pilgrimages. Interviews with 24 people were conducted in English, Chinese and Japanese. This study will use data to demonstrate the followings: the irreplaceability of music in faraway places; the identity and sense of belonging that music brings; the ethnic barriers that music crosses; and the cultural communication that music enables.

Keywords: belongingness, gathering, modern pilgrimage, anthropology of music, sociology of music

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Authors: Haitham Nabil Zaghlol Hasan

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This research aims to study the means of securing graves in the Egyptian kingdom era, and revolves around many basic ideas used by the ancient Egyptian to protect his graves from thieves, which included architectural characteristics, which gave it importance only others. The most important of which was the choice of the place of the grave, which chose a kohl place in the desert to protect the graves, which is the valley of kings, and whether the choice of that place had an impact in protecting the grave or not, in addition to other elements followed in the architectural planning, which was in the valley of kings. The multiplicity of the tomb, the construction of the well chamber to deceive the thieves by the end of the graves suddenly, the construction of the wells of the tombs, which contained the burial chamber at the bottom of the main well and the effect of all these factors on the graves, and this shows the importance of the graves to the ancient Egyptian and his belief in resurrection and immortality. The Egyptian resorted to the elements of protection and was a religious worker by The protector gods and special texts to protect the deceased from any danger to protect the tomb. As for the human factor of securing the tomb through human guards (police) and security teams based on the guard and the words indicating the protection and the guard teams and the teams of the majai. The most important developments that arose on the cemetery from Tamit entrance, corridors, chambers, burial chamber and coffin, and the use of sand to close the well after from one cemetery to another and from time to time where it was built in the late period inside the temple campus to be under the attention of the priests and their protection, as the study dealt with an analytical study For the means of securing graves in the Egyptian kingdom period.

Keywords: Egypt, archaeology, civilization, Egyptian

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Authors: Jae Soo Do, Kyoung Seok Kim

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Korea baseball experts reckoned Samsung Lions as the best baseball team. It has the unparalleled records of winning first place in the pennant race for five straight years from 2011 to 2015 and winning the Korean series for four years in a row from 2011 to 2014. However, the team made an unbelievably miserable record of ninth place in the pennant race in 2016 and 2017. How come the strong competitive superiority has gone and what kind of slump made the team how it is now. This study investigates this organizational failure case of Samsung Lions, the professional baseball team in Korea. What factors have brought the organizational failure to Samsung Lions? Based on an in-depth examination on how a league-fore-runner drastically lost its competitive superiority, this verifies the necessity of risk management to which common corporations as well as sport teams can be subject at any time in these days.

Keywords: Samsung Lions, organizational failure, baseball, slump

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Authors: Aluisius Pratono, Deddy Marciano, Suyanto Suyanto

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The emerging model of community development social enterprise is one of the social enterprise models. However, a precise view of the community development enterprise is still lacking. Hence, this study was aimed at deepening the concept of the community development social enterprise model at the place management and development context. Multiple case studies in Indonesia context were observed to explore the typical criteria of the community development enterprise model in place-making practices. The research paradigm used interpretative approach, which involves dialectic process between the researchers and research participants. This study highlights some principles in the community-development enterprise, which cover an entrepreneurial dimension, social goals, participatory governance, and co-management. The result makes a contribution to conceptual literature occurs at the criteria of social enterprises by highlighting the typology of community development enterprise.

Keywords: community development enterprise, social purposes, economic project, participatory governance

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