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Remote collaboration has become increasingly necessary in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many coworkers and collaborators have moved in-person meetings to video conferencing (VC) interfaces such as Zoom. While not yet as common as video conferencing platforms, social virtual reality (VR) tools are becoming an increasingly viable option for how we choose to work remotely. Unlike other remote collaboration interfaces, VR affords near-complete immersion in a virtual environment while allowing users to construct virtual representations of themselves in the form of avatars. Remote teams may choose to use VR applications over traditional VC interfaces to feel more connected with one another, or enter office-like virtual spaces to foster a work-like environment. However, there is a surprising lack of research investigating how avatar presentation affects group collaboration, on both the individual and group level, with the added variable of environment. The present research investigates how creative brainstorming in virtual group settings is affected by avatar styles, environment, and an interplay between these two main elements of social VR platforms. We show that when given the choice, participants overwhelmingly prefer to embody fanciful-styled avatars as opposed to humanoid in both creative and business-style environments during a brainstorming task. Choosing such avatars led participants to report increased comfort and ease in engaging with their partner, as well as more potent feelings of creativity. Such results demonstrate that creative freedom in avatar choice matters more than using environment or situational context as a proxy in decision making. We expect that the findings of our research will catalyze reflection for developers and designers of social VR applications, namely those offering business or productivity-styled platforms, on what avatars their users truly want to embody and what should be offered to them.

The trend of digitalization is unstoppably spreading in all industries and aspects of our life including education. Remote education was picked by most universities and institutions after the outbreak of Covid-19, however, the evaluation of students’ performance in the virtual learning environments (VLEs) became a challenge to the teacher. This research was carried out to investigate the feasibility of solving the problem with tools from Learning Analytics (LA). Network attributes, centrality, and positional analysis under Social Network Analysis (SNA) were selected as parameters for evaluation of students’ behaviours in discussion forum. Graph, and matrix were studied as media to present and communicate the result of analysis, techniques such as hierarchical clustering, Multidimensional Scaling, and Blockmodeling were tested for visualization of results.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity and prevalence of symptoms of psychological distress, fatigue, brain fog, and other conditions have increased considerably, including among people who have not been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Many studies summarize the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health services and how this has changed during the pandemic. Concerned that potential increases in mental health conditions, had already prompted 90% of countries surveyed to include mental health and psychosocial support in their post COVID-19 response plans, but major gaps and concerns remain. In this paper we developed a de-stress proposal through a digital zen garden by using an augmented reality sandbox. The system provides patients with flexible interaction and easy control of the scenario, while making real time data recording. An objective evaluation method is proposed to review the effectiveness of the therapy. According to the evaluation results of patients’ training, the system is a low cost entertainment tool that augments patients’ motivation, and helps to increase the effectiveness of therapy. XX Workshop Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización (WCGIV) Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática

During this semester the group has begun development on a VR horror title adequately named ‘The Maze Chase’. As newcomers to Unity we have learned the inner workings of this editor to profit us in the development of our game, and by frequent testing in the borrowed Oculus Quest headset we have strived to make it a playable experience with room for further development if so desired. There have been obstacles on the way in the shape of the nation-wide quarantine following the outbreak of COVID-19, but the group has done their best to keep morale high and still give their best for this project. In this report you can expect to see our reasonings for choices in the development process, explanations for scripts and AI choices as well as a brief overview of the troubles we encountered coding and testing this game.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and succeeding lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, several services and activities shifted from physical to virtual environments. For example, lectures, conferences and work-related meetings among many other social practices which took place face-to-face in the past started to be organized in virtual spaces. The same phenomenon could be observed in tourism, an industry heavily impacted by pandemic-related travel restrictions and lockdowns. In particular, sharing economy platforms played an important role in introducing the concept of online experience, which refer to live, interactive video sessions offering access to meeting expert hosts, online interactions and an opportunity to interact with people around the world. These online experiences can be wine tasting sessions, nature walks, guided city tours to composing lyrics or cooking an exotic dinner. As a new concept, online experiences represent an extension of our understanding of virtual tourism which before the pandemic was simply limited to the idea of using virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality in a tourism and hospitality context. In view of the new advancements in virtual tourism, this thesis aims to contribute to a theoretical and practical understanding of tourism consumption in virtual spaces. To that end, the unpublished article included in the thesis explores value formation in the context of online experiences offered by tourism-based sharing economy platforms. More precisely, the article looks into how consumers and service providers interact and enact practices that may lead to the co-creation or co-destruction of value in an online experience context. In doing so, the article draws upon the theoretical discussions of interactive value formation and practice theory which have been taking place in marketing and tourism studies. Methodologically, the article used data collected during an action research study conducted between 2020 and 2022. The empirical data consists of observation, semi-structure interviews, focus group interviews, and reflection papers written by consumers. The data is analysed with the help of content analysis. By identifying four online experience-related value formation practices, this research draws attention to practices that need to be supported in order to both facilitate value creation and avoid value destruction in online experiences. Finally, the thesis sheds light on the implications of virtual tourism for sustainability in tourism.

Due to COVID-19, crowdsourcing has gained momentum as an alternative methodology for continuing research and for Quality of Experience (QoE) assessment. Employing this approach, we remotely evaluated the user perceived QoE of two different visual rendering formats as part of an Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) simulation. The aim was to investigate the participant’s QoE when testing AV technology in distinct visual rendering qualities (lowpoly vs high-poly) of an online streamed 360° car riding experience. In addition, a scoring model based on the expected reliability of each level of the remote assessment was designed. Findings suggest that the consumer’s preferences towards the adoption of AV technology is highly determined by the system and human effects on Influence Factors (IFs). Moreover, the adequacy of reliability into a mathematical model is highlighted as a potential turning point for QoE assessment, by carrying out the evaluation tasks from the laboratory environment into the internet, particularly relevant in pandemic times. yes

The adaptation of virtual training has steadily grown since the start of the century and saw a rapid spike in usage following the global pandemic in 2020. For many companies and organizations, it can still be unfamiliar and intimidating, even after being forced to adapt it due to COVID-19. This thesis aims to explore, study, and analyze different forms of virtual training, how effective they are from both learning and business perspectives and provide recommendations based on the findings. Additionally, the purpose of this research is to bring awareness to different forms of virtual training and how they can be utilized by different organizations. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to investigate the virtual training market, explore the history of virtual training and the different solutions currently available. Virtual training can take many forms, with different forms having different requirements for the equipment, the instructors, and the learners. Depending on the form virtual training takes, it can bring several benefits to the organization that has adapted it, such as lower overall costs, increased effectiveness, possibility to simulate situations that could not be simulated in a real world setting and better learner engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s lives and the way in which certain services are provided. Such changes are not uncommon in healthcare services and they will have to adapt to the new situation by increasing the number of services remotely offered. Limited mobility has resulted in interruption of treatments that traditionally have been administered through face-to-face modalities, especially those related to cognitive impairments. In this telerehabilitation approach, both the patient and the specialist physician enter a virtual reality (VR) environment where they can interact in real time through avatars. A spaced retrieval (SR) task is implemented in the system to analyze cognitive performance. An experimental group (n = 20) performed the SR task in telerehabilitation mode, whereas a control group (n = 20) performed the SR task through a traditional face-to-face mode. The obtained results showed that it is possible to carry out cognitive rehabilitation processes through a telerehabilitation modality in conjunction with VR. The costeffectiveness of the system will also contribute to making healthcare systems more efficient, overcoming both geographical and temporal limitations.

Some time ago Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality were exclusively devoted to the gaming industry. Nowadays, both technologies are experiencing a deep interest from various spheres, including healthcare sector. The new infectious disease COVID-19 has had a catastrophic effect on the world’s demographics. Many patients with mild or severe COVID- 19 do not recover completely and present with a wide variety of chronic symptoms after infection, often of a neurological, cognitive or psychiatric nature. The most common signs of cognitive disorder can be summarized as mental fog, memory problems and concentration problems. The aim of this study was to analyze the opportunities for Virtual and Augmented Reality in the cognitive interventions related to mentioned disorders by searching for articles in scientific databases. We conclude that as these technologies and devices become cheaper and accessible worldwide, can at least be regarded as a rehabilitation therapy as effective as traditional training, and to some extent better than it. Workshop: WCGIV - Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática

The launch of "Qatar University Research Magazine" marks the university's numerous achievements in the field of scientific research. It will also serve as a platform to highlight all our research related initiatives and activities carried out by the various research centers and colleges within the university.