Search Results (3,780)

Virtual tours with 360 photos present a quick, easy and accessible way to create immersive experiences. The visualization on diverse devices provides a user experience that can be different. A virtual tour with 360 photos of the Chapel of Dolores (Tenerife) has been created. Access is limited to specific days, so the creation of a virtual tour allows you to visit it at any time; in addition, a pilot test has been carried out with students of the degree of restoration and conservation of cultural heritage in order to measure the user experience of the virtual tour, depending on the device used. The participants took a virtual tour of the Dolores Chapel, first with a cell phone and then with the virtual reality headset, and then completed a user experience questionnaire. The results obtained comparing both visualization technologies are detailed, highlighting the fact that when using the virtual reality headset no better results are obtained on the immersion subscale; in addition, the visualization on a smartphone is more comfortable and obtains better results for consequences such as dizziness and vertigo. Therefore, it may be an interesting strategy to have simple versions that work quickly on cell phones. Full article

The identification of key points in the human body is vital for sports rehabilitation, medical diagnosis, human–computer interaction, and related fields. Currently, depth cameras provide more precise depth information on these crucial points. However, human motion can lead to variations in the positions of these key points. While the Mediapipe algorithm demonstrates effective anti-shake capabilities for these points, its accuracy can be easily affected by changes in lighting conditions. To address these challenges, this study proposes an illumination-adaptive algorithm for detecting human key points through the fusion of multi-source information. By integrating key point data from the depth camera and Mediapipe, an illumination change model is established to simulate environmental lighting variations. Subsequently, the fitting function of the relationship between lighting conditions and adaptive weights is solved to achieve lighting adaptation for human key point detection. Experimental verification and similarity analysis with benchmark data yielded R2 results of 0.96 and 0.93, and cosine similarity results of 0.92 and 0.90. With a threshold range of 8, the joint accuracy rates for the two rehabilitation actions were found to be 89% and 88%. The experimental results demonstrate the stability of the proposed method in detecting key points in the human body under changing illumination conditions, its anti-shake ability for human movement, and its high detection accuracy. This method shows promise for applications in human–computer interaction, sports rehabilitation, and virtual reality. Full article

This study examined the efficacy of an optimized DeepLabCut (DLC) model in motion capture, with a particular focus on the sit-to-stand (STS) movement, which is crucial for assessing the functional capacity in elderly and postoperative patients. This research uniquely compared the performance of this optimized DLC model, which was trained using ’filtered’ estimates from the widely used OpenPose (OP) model, thereby emphasizing computational effectiveness, motion-tracking precision, and enhanced stability in data capture. Utilizing a combination of smartphone-captured videos and specifically curated datasets, our methodological approach included data preparation, keypoint annotation, and extensive model training, with an emphasis on the flow of the optimized model. The findings demonstrate the superiority of the optimized DLC model in various aspects. It exhibited not only higher computational efficiency, with reduced processing times, but also greater precision and consistency in motion tracking thanks to the stability brought about by the meticulous selection of the OP data. This precision is vital for developing accurate biomechanical models for clinical interventions. Moreover, this study revealed that the optimized DLC maintained higher average confidence levels across datasets, indicating more reliable and accurate detection capabilities compared with standalone OP. The clinical relevance of these findings is profound. The optimized DLC model’s efficiency and enhanced point estimation stability make it an invaluable tool in rehabilitation monitoring and patient assessments, potentially streamlining clinical workflows. This study suggests future research directions, including integrating the optimized DLC model with virtual reality environments for enhanced patient engagement and leveraging its improved data quality for predictive analytics in healthcare. Overall, the optimized DLC model emerged as a transformative tool for biomechanical analysis and physical rehabilitation, promising to enhance the quality of patient care and healthcare delivery efficiency. Full article

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the study of emotions, demonstrating their importance in understanding diverse human and social dynamics. However, as this field of study develops and diversifies, a structural yet simple question remains virtually undiscussed: Is it really possible to say that societies possess emotions or a certain sensitivity akin to individual experiences? This exploratory study, based on documentary analysis, endeavours to identify and examine emotional patterns across six different periods, spanning from the Middle Ages to the present day. Among the eight secondary findings, three fundamental conclusions stand out: (1) throughout history, societies have experienced different emotional atmospheres, sometimes simultaneously; (2) although societies generally propose an emotional model to follow, the reality does not always conform to it; and (3) it is mainly through the culture that society creates a certain emotional harmony, allowing the social body to remain cohesive and develop, thus postponing or preventing its disintegration. This study aims to offer a modest contribution to the complex and under-explored discussion on the correlation between specific emotional climates and particular social contexts. Full article

A virtual reality-based lumbar rehabilitation training system is designed to address the increasing number of patients with low back pain (LBP) year by year. Attitude sensors are used to track lower back movement. In order to improve the effect of rehabilitation training, several virtual rehabilitation training games and assessment scenes are designed based on the Unity3D engine to complete different tasks from simple to complex. The goal is to increase patients’ interest in rehabilitation training. The experimental results verify the accuracy of rehabilitation data acquisition, real-time interactive communication, and the smooth operation of rehabilitation scenes. Full article

In biomedicine, the critical task is to decode Drug–Drug Interactions (DDIs) from complex biomedical texts. The scientific community employs Knowledge Graph Embedding (KGE) methods, enhanced with advanced neural network technologies, including capsule networks. However, existing methodologies primarily focus on the structural details of individual entities or relations within Biomedical Knowledge Graphs (BioKGs), overlooking the overall structural context of BioKGs, molecular structures, positional features of drug pairs, and their critical Relational Mapping Properties. To tackle the challenges identified, this study presents HSTrHouse an innovative hierarchical self-attention BioKGs embedding framework. This architecture integrates self-attention mechanisms with advanced neural network technologies, including Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Graph Neural Network (GNN), for enhanced computational modeling in biomedical contexts. The model bifurcates the BioKGs into entity and relation layers for structural analysis. It employs self-attention across these layers, utilizing PubMedBERT and CNN for position feature extraction, and a GNN for drug pair molecular structure analysis. Then, we connect the position and molecular structure features to integrate them into the self-attention calculation of entity and relation. After that, the output of the self-attention layer is combined with the connected vectors of the position feature and molecular structure feature to obtain the final representation vector, and finally, to model the Relational Mapping Properties (RMPs), the representation vector is embedded into the complex vector space using Householder projections to obtain the BioKGs model. The paper validates HSTrHouse’s efficacy by comparing it with advanced models on three standard BioKGs for DDIs research. Full article

The sixth generation of mobile networks (6G) has the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate, interact, and use information for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0, while also improving coverage in places that were previously considered difficult to access and/or digitally excluded, and supporting more devices and users. The 6G network will have an impact through a combination of many technologies: the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence/machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, cloud computing, and cyber security. New solutions and architectures and concepts for their use need to be developed to take full advantage of this. This article provides an overview of the challenges in this area and the proposed solutions, taking into account the disruptive technologies that are yet to be developed. Full article

Introduction: Education of patients prior to an invasive procedure is pivotal for good cooperation and knowledge retention. Virtual reality (VR) is a fast-developing technology that helps educate both medical professionals and patients. Objective: To prove non-inferiority of VR education compared to conventional education in patients prior to the implantation of a permanent pacemaker (PPM). Methods: 150 participants scheduled for an elective implantation of a PPM were enrolled in this prospective study and randomized into two groups: the VR group (n = 75) watched a 360° video about the procedure using the VR headset Oculus Meta Quest 2, while the conventional group (n = 75) was educated by a physician. Both groups filled out a questionnaire to assess the quality of education pre- and in-hospital, their knowledge of the procedure, and their subjective satisfaction. Results: There was no significant difference in the quality of education. There was a non-significant trend towards higher educational scores in the VR group. The subgroup with worse scores was older than the groups with higher scores (82 vs. 76 years, p = 0.025). Anxiety was reduced in 92% of participants. Conclusion: VR proved to be non-inferior to conventional education. It helped to reduce anxiety and showed no adverse effects. Full article

Psychedelic therapy is increasingly acknowledged as a transformative approach to mental health care, much like how Virtual Reality (VR) technology has emerged as a potent tool in the realm of mental health. Hence, there is potential for integrating the benefits derived from both. This review aims to assess the current state of the art concerning the utilization of VR and psychedelic simulations for treating psychological disorders. The findings clarify the potential of an emerging treatment: the simulation of psychedelic states through Virtual Reality. This treatment has been shown to improve cognitive flexibility and executive functions and, as a result, could be used to prevent conditions such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Furthermore, this treatment facilitates the activation of other constructs in the subject, such as creativity, joy, pleasure, and relaxation, which can act as mediators in the treatment of various psychopathological disorders. This review attempts to broaden knowledge regarding the simulation of psychedelic states through Virtual Reality, exposing the results in a clinical setting and highlighting the need for further studies. Full article

Exergaming, a new type of sport, combined with virtual reality, has provided new opportunities for the aging population. This study analyzed the differences in leisure constraints, participation benefits, and continuous participation intention in virtual golf (represented as an exergame) depending on the participants’ ages. Data collection was conducted from August 2023 to November 2023. A quantitative research design and a convenience sampling method were employed, targeting 310 regular virtual golf participants aged 20 years or older in the Republic of Korea. For comparative analysis, the survey participants were segmented into three groups: Group 1, young adults (18–35 years); Group 2, middle-aged adults (36–55 years); and Group 3, older adults (56–69 years). To compare and analyze participation behaviors in virtual golf, the dependent variables were identified: (a) leisure constraints (four factors) to limit formation and participation in leisure; (b) participation benefits (four factors) to encourage participation in leisure; and (c) continuous participation intention (single factor) to show likelihood to participate in leisure in the future. The results revealed that the young adult group showed statistically high results for costs under leisure constraints (F = 14.949, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.089), and the older adult group reported statistically high results in physical (F = 9.346, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.057) and mental (F = 7.249, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.045) participation benefits and continuous participation intention (F = 6.486, p < 0.01, η_p² = 0.041). This study confirmed that virtual golf using advanced technology brings physical and mental benefits to older people based on reasonable cost and enables continuous participation in physical activity. Full article

The dependence of body stability on the distance between the optical centers of VR-device lenses and the refractive error status of users during VR viewing was investigated. Participants included 31 adults, and their postural-control ability was measured using a BTrackS device. The optical conditions were (1) COCD (comfortable optical center distance), (2) COCD+2D (comfortable optical center distance with 2D myopia), (3) COCD-2D (comfortable optical center distance with 2D hyperopia), (4) DOCD (uncomfortable optical center distance), (5) DOCD+2D (uncomfortable optical center distance with 2D myopia), and (6) DOCD-2D (uncomfortable optical center distance with 2D hyperopia). Posture was assessed under these six optical conditions while the participants were wearing a VR device and watching a 3D roller-coaster video. The sway-path length was significantly increased under the COCD-2D, DOCD, DOCD+2D, and DOCD-2D conditions compared to the COCD condition (p < 0.05). In the case of maximum sway velocity, the results showed significant increases under the DOCD, DOCD+2D, and DOCD-2D conditions compared to the COCD condition (p < 0.05). The analysis revealed that when users are viewing VR displays, optimization of the distance to the optical center of the VR-device lenses and correction of the refractive errors for individual users was a significant factor in minimizing body instability. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) enables the development of virtual training frameworks suitable for various domains, especially when real-world conditions may be hazardous or impossible to replicate because of unique additional resources (e.g., equipment, infrastructure, people, locations). Although VR technology has significantly advanced in recent years, methods for evaluating immersion (i.e., the extent to which the user is engaged with the sensory information from the virtual environment or is invested in the intended task) continue to rely on self-reported questionnaires, which are often administered after using the virtual scenario. Having an objective method to measure immersion is particularly important when using VR for training, education, and applications that promote the development, fine-tuning, or maintenance of skills. The level of immersion may impact performance and the translation of knowledge and skills to the real-world. This is particularly important in tasks where motor skills are combined with complex decision making, such as surgical procedures. Efforts to better measure immersion have included the use of physiological measurements including heart rate and skin response, but so far they do not offer robust metrics that provide the sensitivity to discriminate different states (idle, easy, and hard), which is critical when using VR for training to determine how successful the training is in engaging the user’s senses and challenging their cognitive capabilities. In this study, electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected from 14 participants who completed VR jigsaw puzzles with two different levels of task difficulty. Machine learning was able to accurately classify the EEG data collected during three different states, obtaining accuracy rates of 86% and 97% for differentiating easy versus hard difficulty states and baseline vs. VR states. Building on these results may enable the identification of robust biomarkers of immersion in VR, enabling real-time recognition of the level of immersion that can be used to design more effective and translative VR-based training. This method has the potential to adjust aspects of VR related to task difficulty to ensure that participants are immersed in VR. Full article

Background: The aim of the study was to demonstrate the influence of virtual reality (VR) exposure on postural stability and determine the mechanism of this influence. Methods: Twenty-six male participants aged 21–23 years were included, who underwent postural stability assessment twice before and after a few minute of single VR exposure. The VR projection was a computer-generated simulation of the surrounding scenery. Postural stability was assessed using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT), using Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP). Results: The findings indicated that VR exposure affects the visual and vestibular systems. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in results before and after VR exposure were observed in tests on an unstable surface. It was confirmed that VR exposure has a positive influence on postural stability, attributed to an increase in the sensory weight of the vestibular system. Partial evidence suggested that the reduction in vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) reinforcement may result in an adaptive shift to the optokinetic reflex (OKR). Conclusions: By modifying the process of environmental perception through artificial sensory simulation, the influence of VR on postural stability has been demonstrated. The validity of this type of research is determined by the effectiveness of VR techniques in the field of vestibular rehabilitation. Full article

Recognizing the growing interests and benefits of technology-assisted interactive telerehabilitation in various populations, the aim of this review is to systematically review the effects of interactive telerehabilitation with remote monitoring and guidance for improving balance and gait performance in older adults and individuals with neurological conditions. The study protocol for this systematic review was registered with the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO) with the unique identifier CRD42024509646. Studies written in English published from January 2014 to February 2024 in Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were examined. Of the 247 identified, 17 were selected after initial and eligibility screening, and their methodological quality was assessed with the National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-sectional Studies. All 17 studies demonstrated balance and gait performance improvement in older adults and in individuals with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis following 4 or more weeks of interactive telerehabilitation via virtual reality, smartphone or tablet apps, or videoconferencing. The findings of this systematic review can inform the future design and implementation of interactive telerehabilitation technology and improve balance and gait training exercise regimens for older adults and individuals with neurological conditions. Full article

Virtual reality is a technological development that, among others, has revolutionized Earth sciences. Its advantages include an opportunity to examine places otherwise difficult or impossible to access and it may also become an important component of education, fostering a better understanding of processes and landforms, geohazard awareness, and an appreciation of geoheritage. This paper reports on the GeoVT project, which aims to create a platform to build and disseminate Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) focused on geomorphology, natural hazards associated with geomorphological processes, and geoheritage sites. To put the GeoVT project in context, an overview of applications of VR in geosciences is provided. This paper subsequently proceeds with a presentation of the project and the GeoVT Authoring application, which is an innovative platform designed to help teachers and students, followed by brief presentations of a number of VFTs developed within the project. They address themes such as fluvial landforms and valley development, coastal landforms, evidence of past glaciation, coastal erosion, wildfire effects, mud volcanoes, and landslides. Full article