The use of virtual simulation-based training continues to expand, as organizations explore alternative methods to reduce the cost of training. While virtual simulation has been empirically validated to be effective in the transfer of skills to the live environment, what is still unknown is what effect, if any, that an individual’s sense of presence in the simulation has on their performance. In...

The concept of "presence" is a major part of the discourse of VR. Creating a sense of presence can be crucial to the effectiveness of museum exhibits and VR presentations. Sound can play various roles in technology-based presentations, by creating or enhancing a sense of presence, and providing a continuity of experience. This paper discusses these points and how presence and sonic identificati...

In this paper we describe the results of experiments whose goal is to investigate the effect of enhancing a virtual reality experience with the sound of synthetic footsteps. Results show that the sense of presence is enhanced when the sound of one’s own motion is added. Furthermore, the experiments show that the threshold for detection of latency between motion and sound is raised when visual s...

In this paper, we aim to study virtual presence in blogging communities. We argue that though some conceptualization of virtual presence has been made, this only took account of one’s presence among a community of ‘known’ others. Increasingly, however, in blogging and other online communities, users do not necessarily know ‘the others’ but yet they interact with them and develop friendships and...

For almost a century, the oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild) (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), was thought to be the most efficient vector of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis (Yersin). Approximately 2 wk after consuming an infectious bloodmeal, a blockage often forms in the flea's proventriculus, which forces the flea to increase its biting frequency and consequently increases the ...

There appears to be an as yet unexplained form and level in coherence in the various domains of nature. This anomalous phenomenon involves a quasi-instant transmission of an active kind of information that correlates entities across space and over time. The first part of this paper presents evidence that this nonlocal form of coherence is widespread in nature, occurring in the microdomain of th...

We present a theoretical study on the anomalous transmission of an asymmetric Young’s double metallic nanoslit with an ultrathin interval. The slit–slit interactions show exotic optical properties, particularly strong suppression of light transmission with narrow bandwidth and red/blue shifting of transmission peaks from individual slits, in contrast to currently welldeveloped subwavelength opt...

The spectral sensitivity of the visual photopigments, the interobserver variability in color judgments, and the spectral locus of unique yellow provide three major problems for accounts of X-chromosomal-linked anomalous trichromacy. According to the single-pigment hypothesis, the primary defect in anomalous trichromacy is a wavelength shift in the peak sensitivity of one of the three visual pho...

In this paper the design, implementation and testing of the Location-Based game Passing On is explored. It is a multi-player game for mobile phones, with a focus on asymmetric and limited communication. While one player can communicate by talking, the other can answer only by knocking. This limited and asymmetric communication became one of the central gameplay resources in the game, shaping mu...