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Publications

Publications by Miguel Correia Melo

2022

A survey of multisensory VR and AR applications for cultural heritage

Authors
Marto, A; Goncalves, A; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
COMPUTERS & GRAPHICS-UK

Abstract
The use of technology in cultural heritage sites for end-users, like virtual audio-visual reconstructions, has become a common solution to improve the communication and perception between these spaces and their visitors. Since humans perceive the world with different senses and in real-time, to evoke more than one or two senses at a time can bring benefits for the user perception. Accordingly, some very different implementations unleashing multisensory experiences have been made. Aiming to understand how different stimuli are being evoked in multisensory experiences to enhance cultural heritage experiences, and how these implementations are being evaluated, this paper presents a systematic review of technological multisensory applications in cultural heritage. Thus, the collected and analyzed data, focused on technologies used, purpose of the experience, stimuli explored, evaluation process, main findings obtained, and limitations found, will provide valuable information for further implementations. The overall results unleash the wide diversity available for multisensory implementations, from technological solutions to available content for users. Covering the pros and cons of such diversity, this study sustains the use of multisensory applications in cultural heritage as a powerful tool to enrich users' visits.

2022

Using Virtual Reality to Demonstrate and Promote Products: The Effect of Gender, Product Contextualization and Presence on Purchase Intention and User Satisfaction

Authors
Meirinhos, G; Goncalves, G; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE ACCESS

Abstract
Virtual Reality (VR) and its capability to replace real stimuli for synthesized ones as if they were real opened several research lines over the years. Many of those consist of trying to validate whether or not VR replicates the same user behaviours seen in reality. In this study, we investigated whether or not product contextualization and gender could influence users' intention to purchase as well as their satisfaction with the application and how presence levels correlate with purchase intention and user satisfaction. The product tested was a double door refrigerator with a touchscreen. We considered two independent variables: Contextualization (Context - The refrigerator was displayed in a kitchen and filled with food products and Neutral - The refrigerator was empty and displayed in an empty room) and gender (male and female). The results indicated that contextualization and gender had no effective impact on purchase intention, user satisfaction with the VR experience nor the sense of presence. A positive correlation was found between presence and user satisfaction. Evidence indicates that it is not necessary to represent products in their context, saving computational power and human resources.

2022

Virtual Reality e-Commerce: Contextualization and Gender Impact on User Memory and User Perception of Functionalities and Size of Products

Authors
Goncalves, G; Meirinhos, G; Filipe, V; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE ACCESS

Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) potential to isolate users from the real world while producing a rich virtual environment where users act similarly to how they would, in reality, is still being investigated in several fields. In this work, we investigated the effects of product contextualisation and gender under an immersive VR application where users can explore in-depth a commercial product with a hands-on experience. An experimental between-subjects study was performed with 38 participants between 18 and 28 years. The product tested consisted of a double-door refrigerator equipped with a touchscreen. Two independent variables were studied: Context (the refrigerator was filled with food products and placed in a kitchen), Neutral Context (empty refrigerator displayed in an empty white room), and Gender (Female and Male). As for the dependent variables, we considered how clarified users felt about the product functionalities, its size, the extent users remember details and characteristics of the refrigerator, and the user's subjective workload. The evidence shows that contextualisation and gender have no impact on any dependent variables. Therefore, we concluded that presenting a product in its context does not benefit significantly benefit it. Thus, opting for a neutral context would be preferable to save computational costs and human resources necessary to build and run the higher complexity environments required to contextualise the product.

2022

Immersive VR for Real Estate: Evaluation of Different Levels of Interaction and Visual Fidelity

Authors
Meirinhos, G; Martins, S; Peixoto, B; Monteiro, P; Gonsalves, G; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
TEM JOURNAL-TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATICS

Abstract
-This work presents a study on how an immersive virtual environment's level of interaction and fidelity can affect the quality of experience (QOE) in a real estate context. Four versions of the virtual space were created with the level of interaction and the level of fidelity varying between them. The QoE dimensions considered in this work are user satisfaction, lighting quality, interior space quality, and interaction features. The sample comprises 28 participants, of which 21 are men and 7 are women, aged between 18 and 29 years. Results show that, overall, the level of fidelity is more relevant when the level of interaction is low, assuming the movement around the apartment is statistically higher in high-fidelity experiences.

2022

Evaluation of the impact of different levels of self-representation and body tracking on the sense of presence and embodiment in immersive VR

Authors
Goncalves, G; Melo, M; Barbosa, L; Vasconcelos Raposo, J; Bessa, M;

Publication
VIRTUAL REALITY

Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to investigate the effect of different types of self-representations through floating members (hands vs. hands + feet), virtual full body (hands + feet vs. full-body avatar), walking fidelity (static feet, simulated walking, real walking), and number of tracking points used (head + hands, head + hands + feet, head + hands + feet + hip) on the sense of presence and embodiment through questionnaires. The sample consisted of 98 participants divided into a total of six conditions in a between-subjects design. The HTC Vive headset, controllers, and trackers were used to perform the experiment. Users were tasked to find a series of hidden objects in a virtual environment and place them in a travel bag. We concluded that (1) the addition of feet to floating hands can impair the experienced realism (p = 0.039), (2) both floating members and full-body avatars can be used without affecting presence and embodiment (p > 0.05) as long as there is the same level of control over the self-representation, (3) simulated walking scores of presence and embodiment were similar when compared to static feet and real walking tracking data (p > 0.05), and (4) adding hip tracking overhead, hand and feet tracking (when using a full-body avatar) allows for a more realistic response to stimuli (p = 0.002) and a higher overall feeling of embodiment (p = 0.023).

2022

Authoring tool for creating immersive virtual experiences expeditiously for training

Authors
Machado, R; Rodrigues, R; Coelho, H; Melo, M; Barbosa, L; Bessa, M;

Publication
2022 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GRAPHICS AND INTERACTION (ICGI)

Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) is still a field that is in constant development, and people are trying to use it to have a close representation of reality by creating immersive environments. However, despite the existence of some tools that have been adapted to work with VR, they require some experience to work with, and there is a considerable amount of resources that need to be spent to create and maintain the VR experiences, which prevents the adoption and use of all the benefits that VR can bring. This work proposes an architecture for an authoring tool that allows users to create their own virtual experiences without the need for an extensive understanding of it and use them to create a virtual training exercise. This paper uses a case study built upon a real training context scenario applied to the agroforestry field. To validate this proposal, a prototype was built and subject to usability and satisfaction tests that demonstrated the ease of understanding and learning of the interfaces and all the functionalities implemented.

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