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Publications

Publications by Maximino Bessa

2022

Place Attachment Through Virtual Reality: A Comparative Study in Douro Region (Northern Portugal) with Video and 'Real' Visit

Authors
Losada, N; Jorge, F; Teixeira, MS; Sousa, N; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
MARKETING AND SMART TECHNOLOGIES, VOL 1

Abstract
Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality, could be effective marketing tools for destination marketing, namely in creating place attachment prior experience the destination. Place attachment plays a significant role in behavioural intentions to visit and to recommend a destination. However, place attachment research is relatively new in the tourism context. This study seeks to empirically examine the effectiveness of Virtual Reality in creating place attachment to destinations exploring the changes in the place attachment after two moments. First, after watching a video and after having an experience in the Virtual Reality environment. Second, after the experience in the Virtual Reality environment and after the 'real' visit to a representative viewpoint in Douro region. Students belonging to Gen Z were sampled. Findings reflect that Virtual Reality has potentialities for marketing destinations.

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

Municipal Executive Recommendation by Citizens: Who Is Most Significant?

Authors
Meirinhos, G; Bessa, M; Leal, C; Sol, M; Carvalho, A; Silva, R;

Publication
ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES

Abstract
This paper explores which variables are more significant in municipal executive recommendation by citizens. We estimated the influence of public dimensions, such as municipe loyalty, municipe satisfaction, and municipe perceived value in municipal executive recommendation by citizens. Then, we tried to understand if the citizen's opinions influenced the evaluation of the municipal executive recommendation. The parishes of the municipality of Valongo were selected and analyzed, namely the parishes of Alfena, Campo e Sobrado, Valongo, and Ermesinde, and a total of 998 questionnaires were collected. Data were collected in November 2020 in the different parishes under study. It was concluded that all studied dimensions were statistically significant in the final structural estimated model. The structural results point to municipe loyalty and municipe satisfaction dimensions having a direct, positive, and statistically significant influence on municipal executive recommendation. On the other side, the municipe perceived value dimension has a direct positive but not statistically significant influence on municipal executive recommendation. This study showed that a loyal and satisfied citizen recommends the continuity of the municipal executive in the city's political leadership in which he or she lives. Therefore, for the municipal executive administration, it is fundamental to know which dimensions the society considers most important in order to be able to remain in the management of the shared destinies of a city. In this sense, political decisions throughout the mandates can be directed, on the one hand, to the satisfaction and loyalty of the citizens and, on the other hand, to the balanced management of the destinies of this type of public entity.

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.

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