A Methodological Approach to User Evaluation and Assessment of a Virtual Environment Hangout

Innovation in virtual reality and motion sensing devices is pushing the development of virtual communication platforms towards completely immersive scenarios, which require full user interaction and create complex sensory experiences. This evolution influences user experiences and creates new paradigms for interaction, leading to an increased importance of user evaluation and assessment on new systems interfaces and usability, to validate platform design and development from the users’ point of view. The REVERIE research project aims to develop a virtual environment service for realistic inter-personal interaction. This paper describes the design challenges faced during the development process of user interfaces and the adopted methodological approach to user evaluation and assessment.

A New Method for Estimating the Moisture Content and Flexibility of Polymerised Bentonite Clay Mat

This paper presents a scientific development to address the current absence of a convenient technique to identify the ductile to brittle transition of bentonite clay mats. The instrumented indentation and 3-point bending tests were performed on different liquid polymer hydrated bentonite clay mats at varying moisture content. Properties measured include modified Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) and elastic structural stiffness (EI). The dependence of flexural stiffness on moisture content is demonstrated to conform to a best power function variation. The ductile to brittle transition of clay mat is affected primarily by the change in the moisture content and for the clay mat to remain flexible, critical moisture content of 1.7 times of its plastic limit is required. Results also indicate that a strong correlation between indentation hardness and the structural stiffness. The subsequent outcome in the development of a portable quality control device to monitor the acceptable moisture content level to ensure flexibility of the clay mats was also described in this paper.