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The purpose of the Oculus Exercise research project we conducted was to find a way to entice individuals to attend a gym more often and for longer periods of time. We have found that many activities are being augmented by the increasingly popular virtual reality technology, and within that space

The purpose of the Oculus Exercise research project we conducted was to find a way to entice individuals to attend a gym more often and for longer periods of time. We have found that many activities are being augmented by the increasingly popular virtual reality technology, and within that space "gamifying" the activity seems to attract more users. Given the idea of making activities more entertaining to users through "gamification", we decided to incorporate virtual reality, using the Oculus Rift, to immerse users within a simulated environment to potentially drive the factors previously identified in respect to gym utilization. To start, we surveyed potential users to gauge potential interest in virtual reality and its usage in physical exercise. Based on the initial responses, we saw that there was a definite interest in "gamifying" physical exercises using virtual reality, and proceeded to design a prototype using Unreal Engine 4 -- which is an engine for creating high quality video games with support for virtual reality -- to experiment how it would affect a standard workout routine. After considering several options, we decided to move forward with designing our prototype to augment a spin machine with virtual reality due to its common usage within a gym, and the consistent cardiovascular exercise it entails, as well as the safety intrinsic to it being a mostly stationary device. By analyzing the results of a survey after experimenting upon a user test group, we can begin to correlate the benefits and the drawbacks of using virtual reality in physical exercise, and the feasibility of doing so.
ContributorsCarney, Nicholas (Co-author) / West, Andrew (Co-author) / Dobkins, Jacob (Co-author) / Amresh, Ashish (Thesis director) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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This paper will explore what makes ‘good’ virtual reality, that is, what constitutes the virtual reality threshold. It will explain what this has to do with the temporary death of virtual reality, and argue that that threshold has now been crossed and true virtual reality is now possible, as evidenced

This paper will explore what makes ‘good’ virtual reality, that is, what constitutes the virtual reality threshold. It will explain what this has to do with the temporary death of virtual reality, and argue that that threshold has now been crossed and true virtual reality is now possible, as evidenced by the current wave of virtual reality catalyzed by the Oculus Rift. The Rift will be used as a case study for examining specific aspects of the virtual reality threshold.
ContributorsLittle, Rebecca Ann (Author) / Amresh, Ashish (Thesis director) / Ghazarian, Arbi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Can a skill taught in a virtual environment be utilized in the physical world? This idea is explored by creating a Virtual Reality game for the HTC Vive to teach users how to play the drums. The game focuses on developing the user's muscle memory, improving the user's ability to

Can a skill taught in a virtual environment be utilized in the physical world? This idea is explored by creating a Virtual Reality game for the HTC Vive to teach users how to play the drums. The game focuses on developing the user's muscle memory, improving the user's ability to play music as they hear it in their head, and refining the user's sense of rhythm. Several different features were included to achieve this such as a score, different levels, a demo feature, and a metronome. The game was tested for its ability to teach and for its overall enjoyability by using a small sample group. Most participants of the sample group noted that they felt as if their sense of rhythm and drumming skill level would improve by playing the game. Through the findings of this project, it can be concluded that while it should not be considered as a complete replacement for traditional instruction, a virtual environment can be successfully used as a learning aid and practicing tool.
ContributorsDinapoli, Allison (Co-author) / Tuznik, Richard (Co-author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
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For the past decade, mobile health applications are seeing greater acceptance due to their potential to remotely monitor and increase patient engagement, particularly for chronic disease. Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited chronic disorder of red blood cells requiring careful pain management. A significant number of mHealth applications have been

For the past decade, mobile health applications are seeing greater acceptance due to their potential to remotely monitor and increase patient engagement, particularly for chronic disease. Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited chronic disorder of red blood cells requiring careful pain management. A significant number of mHealth applications have been developed in the market to help clinicians collect and monitor information of SCD patients. Surveys are the most common way to self-report patient conditions. These are non-engaging and suffer from poor compliance. The quality of data gathered from survey instruments while using technology can be questioned as patients may be motivated to complete a task but not motivated to do it well. A compromise in quality and quantity of the collected patient data hinders the clinicians' effort to be able to monitor patient's health on a regular basis and derive effective treatment measures. This research study has two goals. The first is to monitor user compliance and data quality in mHealth apps with long and repetitive surveys delivered. The second is to identify possible motivational interventions to help improve compliance and data quality. As a form of intervention, will introduce intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors within the application and test it on a small target population. I will validate the impact of these motivational factors by performing a comparative analysis on the test results to determine improvements in user performance. This study is relevant, as it will help analyze user behavior in long and repetitive self-reporting tasks and derive measures to improve user performance. The results will assist software engineers working with doctors in designing and developing improved self-reporting mHealth applications for collecting better quality data and enhance user compliance.
ContributorsRallabhandi, Pooja (Author) / Gary, Kevin A (Thesis advisor) / Gaffar, Ashraf (Committee member) / Bansal, Srividya (Committee member) / Amresh, Ashish (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description

This thesis is based on bringing together three different components: non-Euclidean geometric worlds, virtual reality, and environmental puzzles in video games. While all three exist in their own right in the world of video games, as well as combined in pairs, there are virtually no examples of all three together.

This thesis is based on bringing together three different components: non-Euclidean geometric worlds, virtual reality, and environmental puzzles in video games. While all three exist in their own right in the world of video games, as well as combined in pairs, there are virtually no examples of all three together. Non-Euclidean environmental puzzle games have existed for around 10 years in various forms, short environmental puzzle games in virtual reality have come into existence in around the past five years, and non-Euclidean virtual reality exists mainly as non-video game short demos from the past few years. This project seeks to be able to bring these components together to create a proof of concept for how a game like this should function, particularly the integration of non-Euclidean virtual reality in the context of a video game. To do this, a Unity package which uses a custom system for creating worlds in a non-Euclidean way rather than Unity’s built-in components such as for transforms, collisions, and rendering was used. This was used in conjunction with the SteamVR implementation with Unity to create a cohesive and immersive player experience.

ContributorsVerhagen, Daniel William (Author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the State Bar of New Mexico's (SBNM) new podcast series, SBNM is Hear. The podcast was initially developed as a member outreach tool and a new platform for professional development and survey questions were developed to gauge the podcast’s effectiveness in these

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the State Bar of New Mexico's (SBNM) new podcast series, SBNM is Hear. The podcast was initially developed as a member outreach tool and a new platform for professional development and survey questions were developed to gauge the podcast’s effectiveness in these two areas. An electronic survey was deployed to active members of the SBNM through email. Respondents were asked questions regarding their demographics, whether they had listened to the series, and what content they would like to hear in the future. The survey resulted in 103 responses, of which 60% indicated that they had not listened to the podcast. The results showed that listenership was evenly divided between generations and that more females listened to at least one episode. The open-ended responses indicated that the two cohorts of respondents (listeners and non- listeners) viewed the podcast a potential connection to the New Mexico judiciary. Future recommendations include conducting an annual survey to continue to understand the effectiveness of the podcast and solicit feedback for continued growth and improvement

ContributorsPettit, Morgan (Author) / Lauer, Claire (Degree committee member) / Mara, Andrew (Degree committee member) / Carradini, Stephen (Degree committee member)
Created2020-12-10
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Description
In this project, I investigated the impact of virtual reality on memory retention. The investigative approach to see the impact of virtual reality on memory retention, I utilized the memorization technique called the memory palace in a virtual reality environment. For the experiment, due to Covid-19, I was forced to

In this project, I investigated the impact of virtual reality on memory retention. The investigative approach to see the impact of virtual reality on memory retention, I utilized the memorization technique called the memory palace in a virtual reality environment. For the experiment, due to Covid-19, I was forced to be the only subject. To get effective data, I tested myself within randomly generated environments with a completely unique set of objects, both outside of a virtual reality environment and within one. First I conducted a set of 10 tests on myself by going through a virtual environment on my laptop and recalling as many objects I could within that environment. I recorded the accuracy of my own recollection as well as how long it took me to get through the data. Next I conducted a set of 10 tests on myself by going through the same virtual environment, but this time with an immersive virtual reality(VR) headset and a completely new set of objects. At the start of the project it was hypothesized that virtual reality would result in a higher memory retention rate versus simply going through the environment in a non-immersive environment. In the end, the results, albeit with a low test rate, leaned more toward showing the hypothesis to be true rather than not.
ContributorsDu, Michael Shan (Author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / McDaniel, Troy (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05