Entwicklung eines Funktionsumfangs für Augmented Reality Führungen in Hochschulbibliotheken

Anwendungen in Bibliotheken auf Basis von Augmented Reality (AR), der Erweiterung der Realität durch zusätzliche, virtuelle Informationen, existieren bislang nur vereinzelt. Das vom Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie geförderte Forschungsprojekt mylibrARy ermittelt seit Juni 2014 Szenarien für den Einsatz von AR in Bibliotheken und Informationseinrichtungen. Das Projekt zielt auf die Entwicklung einer deutschlandweit einsetzbaren Applikation (App). An diesen Gedanken knüpft die vorliegende Arbeit mit der Entwicklung eines Konzepts für Einführungen in Hochschulbibliotheken mittels AR-Technik. Aus der Analyse aktueller Führungsmodelle von Bibliotheken der Hochschulen im Exzellenzcluster 2012-2017, werden die für die Modellführung benötigten charakteristischen Merkmale einer Bibliotheksführung abgeleitet. Auf die technisch relevanten Grundlagen der AR folgt eine Bestandsaufnahme der bisherigen Augmented-Reality-Projekte im internationalen Bibliothekskontext. Daran schließt die Formulierung der theoretischen Anforderungen und die Ausarbeitung der Funktionen im Einzelnen. Nachfolgend lenkt eine kritische Betrachtung den Fokus auf Mehrwert und Risiken der AR für Bibliothek und Nutzer. Mit einer Zusammenfassung und dem Ausblick auf die zukünftige Entwicklung findet die Arbeit ihren Abschuss.

Applying Augmented Reality to Outdoors Industrial Use

Augmented Reality (AR) is currently gaining popularity in multiple different fields. However, the technology for AR still requires development in both hardware and software when considering industrial use. In order to create immersive AR applications, more accurate pose estimation techniques to define virtual camera location are required. The algorithms for pose estimation often require a lot of processing power, which makes robust pose estimation a difficult task when using mobile devices or designated AR tools. The difficulties are even larger in outdoor scenarios where the environment can vary a lot and is often unprepared for AR. This thesis aims to research different possibilities for creating AR applications for outdoor environments. Both hardware and software solutions are considered, but the focus is more on software. The majority of the thesis focuses on different visual pose estimation and tracking techniques for natural features. During the thesis, multiple different solutions were tested for outdoor AR. One commercial AR SDK was tested, and three different custom software solutions were developed for an Android tablet. The custom software solutions were an algorithm for combining data from magnetometer and a gyroscope, a natural feature tracker and a tracker based on panorama images. The tracker based on panorama images was implemented based on an existing scientific publication, and the presented tracker was further developed by integrating it to Unity 3D and adding a possibility for augmenting content. This thesis concludes that AR is very close to becoming a usable tool for professional use. The commercial solutions currently available are not yet ready for creating tools for professional use, but especially for different visualization tasks some custom solutions are capable of achieving a required robustness. The panorama tracker implemented in this thesis seems like a promising tool for robust pose estimation in unprepared outdoor environments.

Evaluating the use of mobile collaborative augmented reality within field service networks: the case of Océ Italia – Canon Group

The adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) technologies can make the provision of field services to industrial equipment more effective. In these situations, the cost of deploying skilled technicians in geographically dispersed locations must be accurately traded off with the risks of not respecting the service level agreements with the customers. This paper, through the case study of a leading OEM in the production printing industry, presents the challenges that have to be faced in order to favour the adoption of a particular kind of AR named Mobile Collaborative Augmented Reality (MCAR). In particular, this study uses both qualitative and quantitative research. Firstly, a demonstration to show how MCAR can support field service was settled in order to achieve information about the use experience of the people involved. Then, the entire field force of Océ Italia – Canon Group was surveyed in order to investigate quantitatively the technicians’ perceptions about the usefulness and ease of use of MCAR, as well as their intentions to use this technology.

Body image perception in people with type 2 diabetes: does perceived image match reality?

Rationale: Body image misperception and body image dissatisfaction can lead to underestimation of weight and less predisposition to weight control.

Playing for Real: Designing Alternate Reality Games in Learning Contexts

Alternate Reality Game (ARG) represent a new genre of transmedia practice where players hunt for scattered clues, make sense of disparate information, and solve puzzles to advance an ever-evolving storyline. Players participate in ARGs using multiple communications technologies, ranging from print materials to mobile devices. However, many interaction design challenges must be addressed to weave these everyday communication tools together into an immersive, participatory experience. Transmedia design is not an everyday process. Designers must create and connect story bits across multiple media (video, audio, text) and multiple platforms (phones, computers, physical spaces). Furthermore, they must engage with players of varying skill levels. Few studies to-date have explored the design process of ARGs in learning contexts. Fewer still have focused on challenges involved in designing for youth (13-17 years old). In this study, I explore the process of designing ARGs as vehicles for promoting information literacy and participatory culture for adolescents (13-17 years old). Two ARG design scenarios, distinguished by target learning environment (formal and informal context) and target audience (adolescents), comprise the two cases that I examine. Through my analysis of these two design cases, I articulate several unique challenges faced by designers who create interactive, transmedia stories for – and with – youth. Drawing from these design challenges, I derive a repertoire of design strategies that future designers and researchers may use to create and implement ARGs for teens in learning contexts. In particular, I propose a narrative design framework that allows for the categorization of ARGs as storytelling constructs that lie along a continuum of participation and interaction. The framework can serve as an analytic tool for researchers and a guide for designers. In addition, I establish a framework of social roles that designers may employ to craft transmedia narratives before live launch and to promote and scaffold player participation after play begins. Overall, the contributions of my study include theoretical insights that may advance our understanding of narrative design and analysis as well as more practical design implications for designers and practitioners seeking to incorporate transmedia features into learning experiences that target youth.

Nietzsche's orphans: music and the search for unity in revolutionary Russia, 1905-1921

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Imperial Russia was in the throes of immense social, political and cultural upheaval. The effects of rapid industrialization, rising capitalism and urbanization, as well as the trauma wrought by revolution and war, reverberated through all levels of society and every cultural sphere. In the aftermath of the 1905 revolution, amid a growing sense of panic over the chaos and divisions emerging in modern life, a portion of Russian educated society (obshchestvennost’) looked to the transformative and unifying power of music as a means of salvation from the personal, social and intellectual divisions of the contemporary world. Transcending professional divisions, these “orphans of Nietzsche” comprised a distinct aesthetic group within educated Russian society. While lacking a common political, religious or national outlook, these philosophers, poets, musicians and other educated members of the upper and middle strata were bound together by their shared image of music’s unifying power, itself built upon a synthesis of Russian and European ideas. They yearned for a “musical Orpheus,” a composer capable of restoring wholeness to society through his music. My dissertation is a study in what I call “musical metaphysics,” an examination of the creation, development, crisis and ultimate failure of this Orphic worldview. To begin, I examine the institutional foundations of musical life in late Imperial Russia, as well as the explosion of cultural life in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution, a vibrant social context which nourished the formation of musical metaphysics. From here, I assess the intellectual basis upon which musical metaphysics rested: central concepts (music, life-transformation, theurgy, unity, genius, nation), as well as the philosophical heritage of Nietzsche and the Christian thinkers Vladimir Solov’ev, Aleksei Khomiakov, Ivan Kireevskii and Lev Tolstoi. Nietzsche’s orphans’ struggle to reconcile an amoral view of reality with a deeply felt sense of religious purpose gave rise to neo-Slavophile interpretations of history, in which the Russian nation (narod) was singled out as the savior of humanity from the materialism of modern life. This nationalizing tendency existed uneasily within the framework of the multi-ethnic empire. From broad social and cultural trends, I turn to detailed analysis of three of Moscow’s most admired contemporary composers, whose individual creative voices intersected with broader social concerns. The music of Aleksandr Scriabin (1871-1915) was associated with images of universal historical progress. Nikolai Medtner (1879-1951) embodied an “Imperial” worldview, in which musical style was imbued with an eternal significance which transcended the divisions of nation. The compositions of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) were seen as the expression of a Russian “national” voice. Heightened nationalist sentiment and the impact of the Great War spelled the doom of this musical worldview. Music became an increasingly nationalized sphere within which earlier, Imperial definitions of belonging grew ever more problematic. As the Germanic heritage upon which their vision was partially based came under attack, Nietzsche’s orphans found themselves ever more divided and alienated from society as a whole. Music’s inability to physically transform the world ultimately came to symbolize the failure of Russia’s educated strata to effectively deal with the pressures of a modernizing society. In the aftermath of the 1917 revolutions, music was transformed from a symbol of active, unifying power into a space of memory, a means of commemorating, reinterpreting, and idealizing the lost world of Imperial Russia itself.

Is the translational approach becoming a reality in nanomedicine?

International audience

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PILOT CASE STUDY IN CHINA: REALITY, CHALLENGES & LESSONS LEARNED FROM US

Urban planning in China is in a period of change, where participatory planning may supplement the traditional planning system. Since the beginning of the 21st century, several pilot participatory planning projects have responded to the new challenge. The author collected eight cases from the Chinese planning institution to explore the possible models of and barriers to participatory planning. On the other hand, public participation has been a concrete component of planning and implementation process in the United States. The author will also elaborate on one practical case of the planning process in the United States to compare the two countries on planning methods and barriers.

Myths and legends: the reality of rape offences reported to a UK police force

Rape myths affect many aspects of the investigative and criminal justice systems. One such myth, the 'real rape' myth, states that most rapes involve a stranger using a weapon attacking a woman violently at night in an isolated, outdoor area, and that women sustain serious injuries from these attacks. The present study examined how often actual offences reported to a central UK police force over a two year period matched the 'real rape' myth. Out of 400 cases of rape reported, not a single incident was found with all the characteristics of the 'real rape' myth. The few stranger rapes that occurred had a strong link to night-time economy activities, such as the victim and offender both having visited pubs, bars, and clubs. By contrast, the majority of reported rape offences (280 cases, 70.7%) were committed by people known to the victim (e.g., domestic and acquaintance rapes), occurred inside a residence, with most victims sustaining no physical injuries from the attack. The benefits of these naturalistic findings from the field for educating people about the inaccuracy of rape myths are discussed.

Upper Limb Posture Estimation in Robotic and Virtual Reality-based Rehabilitation.

New motor rehabilitation therapies include virtual reality (VR) and robotic technologies. In limb rehabilitation, limb posture is required to (1) provide a limb realistic representation in VR games and (2) assess the patient improvement. When exoskeleton devices are used in the therapy, the measurements of their joint angles cannot be directly used to represent the posture of the patient limb, since the human and exoskeleton kinematic models differ. In response to this shortcoming, we propose a method to estimate the posture of the human limb attached to the exoskeleton. We use the exoskeleton joint angles measurements and the constraints of the exoskeleton on the limb to estimate the human limb joints angles. This paper presents (a) the mathematical formulation and solution to the problem, (b) the implementation of the proposed solution on a commercial exoskeleton system for the upper limb rehabilitation, (c) its integration into a rehabilitation VR game platform, and (d) the quantitative assessment of the method during elbow and wrist analytic training. Results show that this method properly estimates the limb posture to (i) animate avatars that represent the patient in VR games and (ii) obtain kinematic data for the patient assessment during elbow and wrist analytic rehabilitation.