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Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that allows users to experience multisensory and interactive environments that simulate real or imaginary scenarios. The effect of different VR immersive technology on mental workload (MWL), i.e., the amount of resources required to perform a task, is still debated; however the potential role of EEG in this context was never exploited. This paper aims to investigate the effects on MWL of performing a cognitive task in a VR environment in two conditions characterized by different degrees of immersion using a multimodal approach which combines well-assessed subjective evaluations of MWL with physiological EEG measures. A cognitive task based on the n-back test was proposed to compare the performance and MWL of participants who used either a head-mounted display (HMD) or a desktop computer to present the stimuli. The task had four different complexity levels (n = 1 or 2 with either visual or visual and audio stimuli). Twenty-seven healthy participants were enrolled in this study and performed the tasks in both conditions. EEG data and NASA Task Load indeX (NASA-TLX) were used to assess changes in objective and subjective MWL, respectively. Error rates (ERs) and reaction times (RTs) were also collected for each condition and task level. Task levels had significant effects on MWL, increasing subjective measures and decreasing performance, in both conditions. EEG MWL index have shown a significant increase especially if compared to rest. Different degrees of immersion did not show significant differences neither in individual's performance nor in MWL as estimated by subjective ratings. However, HMD reduced the EEG-derived MWL in most conditions indicating a lower cognitive load. In conclusion, HMD may reduce the cognitive load of some tasks. The reduced level of MWL, as depicted by the EEG MWL index, may have implications for the design and future evaluation of VR-based applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional teaching methods in construction management education often face challenges in providing students with practical, real-world experiences crucial for skill development. To address these limitations, this study explores the potential of integrating building information modeling (BIM) and virtual reality (VR) as educational tools for construction management students. Our aim is to assess the effectiveness of a 4D-BIM-based VR simulation in enhancing student's learning experiences and performance in construction project management. This research employs a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative data and qualitative insights from a comparative experiment involving undergraduate students. Quantitative data were collected through objective error detection measures in construction sequences and processes, while qualitative insights were gathered from participant feedback. The findings highlight that students using VR-based simulations detected more errors in construction sequences and processes than in traditional 2D drawings, showcasing the utility of BIM and VR-enabled approaches in teaching construction management. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on integrating advanced technologies into educational practices, particularly in construction management, where practical hands-on experiences are crucial for skill development and real-world application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency response decision making is crucial in managing critical incidents; however, several studies have demonstrated the negative effects of decision inertia. Understanding the manifestation and impact of decision inertia, as well as utilising extended reality (XR) technology with 360-degree immersion, should enhance decision making in high-stress environments and improve emergency response efforts. This study investigated decision inertia, using 109 participants, in an XR 360-degree environment and its impact on decision-making outcomes. The findings revealed that participants often opted for a sub-optimal outcome, and decision inertia scores varied across these outcomes. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that decision inertia scores significantly predicted decision outcomes, with higher decision inertia scores associated with sub-optimal decision-making. Participants prior moral decision-making did influence subsequent immersive reality decision outcomes and demonstrated a Bayesian updating effect. The Structured Tabular Thematic Analysis highlighted the importance of information validity, decision confidence, and scenario fidelity in decision-making within the immersive environment. The study provides insights into decision inertia in immersive virtual reality critical incidents and offers practical solutions for improving decision-making processes in emergency response contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic difficulty adjustment of serious games is a field of research seeking to assist participants attain an ideal learning state. To achieve this, the difficulty of a game is adjusted in real-time to approach the capabilities of the player. Many dynamic difficulty adjustment systems only measure a few variables, often solely player performance, and adjust a limited number of in-game aspects. Little research has sought to ascertain if measuring a combination of cognitive load with measures of performance in real-time leads to a more effective dynamic difficulty adjustment system. Building on research which defined 'mental efficiency', we conducted a novel experiment to address this gap. This is achieved by comparing two versions of a surveillance training serious game; one a linear approach and the other with our unique cognitive load and performance-based dynamic difficulty adjustment system. Our experiment included n=52 participants (26 per treatment group). The experiment demonstrates that our approach achieved similar performance outcomes with lower cognitive load, in less time than the linear difficulty approach. These results indicate that our system enhances learning capacity and may prove beneficial for future serious games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metaverse is an emerging digital space that uses innovative technologies to allow users to facilitate building relationships virtually and to create new interaction opportunities. Even, the financial sector has been disrupted by the metaverse involving digital assets, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance. The objective of this paper is to focus on novel intelligent systems technologies with the potential for application in the financial area to have a better knowledge of the current research topics, challenges, and future directions. A systematic literature review was conducted analyzing papers on technological innovation of the metaverse in financial sector. Following the PRISMA methodology, we have selected 29 primary studies from five scientific databases to be included in the review. The results show that 11 types of innovative metaverse technologies are applied in the financial sector, developing financial innovations, among which the most discussed is cryptocurrency. Among the opportunities that the use of the metaverse brings to the financial sector, the reduction of transaction costs is the most discussed. Finally, five open challenges in the use of metaverse technologies in the financial sector have been identified, relating to the use of data, the application of technologies, social integration, financial innovation, and regulatory compliance. Based on this study, recommendations on future research directions are provided to the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rehabilitation involves all types of patients, including people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is considered a complex syndrome characterized in general by fundamental and characteristic distortions of thinking and perception. The quality of life of a person with schizophrenia can be compromised by difficulty in carrying out their daily tasks and by the social stigma of their condition. The importance of training and sensitizing students in rehabilitation areas to this type of problem to improve the rehabilitation processes in which they will participate as future professionals involves empathy and the ability to communicate with these populations. It is possible through virtual reality to create immersive environments to simulate some psychotic symptoms characteristic of people with schizophrenia, such as visual hallucinations and hearing voices. The aim of this study was to test the effect of exposure to experiences characteristic of schizophrenia through two different types of immersive environments, graphical computational virtual reality and 360° video, on students from areas of social rehabilitation regarding empathy, social distance, and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia. Although the results were positive for the three parameters under study, no significant differences were found for each of them between the environments to which the participants were exposed. This study concluded that the choice between the two types of immersive environments should be based on the project's objectives, the target audience's needs, and available resources, rather than the type of environment itself, as their impact was similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines and discusses potential factors that may trigger authenticity in animated immersive environments. Our discussion draws upon three forms of authenticity, categorized as objective, constructive or symbolic, and existential authenticity. To explore these ideas, we present three case studies drawn from the authors' own research deploying immersive media in different contexts (educational, historical, and political). The aim is to interrogate how authenticity is conceived and constructed on three levels -- authenticity of narrative, authenticity of environment, and authenticity of action -- during the design and production process. We start by defining the concept of authenticity with reference to previous work within the fields of journalism and tourism, and then explore its specification in animated virtual reality through the case study discussion. One important conclusion from our analysis is that authenticity markers are needed to enable users to verify the information presented and trust the educational content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Research in Language & Translation (JRLT) is the property of Journal of Research in Language & Translation (JRLT) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This build and test study investigated the use of immersive environments in the commercial sector, focusing on 3D Spherical Image Technology to enhance the customer experience and explored user engagement in virtual reality experiences, in the context of integrated marketing communication (IMC). A 3D immersive shop was developed and tested on seven people with marketing experience to determine customer satisfaction. Seven themes emerged from the interview data: Pandemic challenges, design challenges, design improvement, safety during the pandemic, accessibility, business growth and efficiency. Four themes emerged for further research: Effectiveness and Impact of immersive marketing, technical considerations, business strategies and adaptation, and social media and consumer behavior.

Traditional teaching methods in construction management education often face challenges in providing students with practical, real-world experiences crucial for skill development. To address these limitations, this study explores the potential of integrating building information modeling (BIM) and virtual reality (VR) as educational tools for construction management students. Our aim is to assess the effectiveness of a 4D-BIM-based VR simulation in enhancing student’s learning experiences and performance in construction project management. This research employs a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative data and qualitative insights from a comparative experiment involving undergraduate students. Quantitative data were collected through objective error detection measures in construction sequences and processes, while qualitative insights were gathered from participant feedback. The findings highlight that students using VR-based simulations detected more errors in construction sequences and processes than in traditional 2D drawings, showcasing the utility of BIM and VR-enabled approaches in teaching construction management. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on integrating advanced technologies into educational practices, particularly in construction management, where practical hands-on experiences are crucial for skill development and real-world application.

Objective: The present scoping review aims to transform the diverse field of research on the effects of mixed reality-based training on performance in manual assembly tasks into comprehensive statements about industrial needs for and effects of mixed reality-based training. Background: Technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, referred to as mixed reality, are seen as promising media for training manual assembly tasks. Nevertheless, current literature shows partly contradictory results, which is due to the diversity of the hardware used, manual assembly tasks as well as methodological approaches to investigate the effects of mixed reality-based training. Method: Following the methodological approach of a scoping review, we selected 24 articles according to predefined criteria and analyzed them concerning five key aspects: (1) the needs in the industry for mixed reality-based training, (2) the actual use and classification of mixed reality technologies, (3) defined measures for evaluating the outcomes of mixed reality-based training, (4) findings on objectively measured performance and subjective evaluations, as well as (5) identified research gaps. Results: Regarding the improvement of performance and effectiveness through mixed reality-based training, promising results were found particularly for augmented reality-based training, while virtual reality-based training is mostly—but not consistently—as good as traditional training. Application: Mixed reality-based training is still not consistently better, but mostly at least as good as traditional training. However, depending on the use case and technology used, the training outcomes in terms of assembly performance and subjective evaluations show promising results of mixed reality-based training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications are very diffuse nowadays. Moreover, recent technology innovations led to the diffusion of commercial head-mounted displays for immersive VR: users can enjoy entertainment activities that fill their visual fields, experiencing the sensation of physical presence in these virtual immersive environments. Even if AR and VR are mostly used separately, they can be effectively combined to provide a multi-user shared environment (SE), where two or more users perform some specific tasks in a cooperative or competitive way, providing a wider set of interactions and use cases compared to immersive VR alone. However, due to the differences between the two technologies, it is difficult to develop SEs offering a similar experience for both AR and VR users. This paper presents Harmonize, a novel framework to deploy applications based on SEs with a comparable experience for both AR and VR users. Moreover, the framework is hardware-independent, and it has been designed to be as much extendable to novel hardware as possible. An immersive game has been designed to test and to evaluate the validity of the proposed framework. The assessment of the system through the System Usability Scale questionnaire and the Game Experience Questionnaire shows a positive evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVW) have significant promise for the development of teaching and learning environments. Educational communities have become interested in such virtual platforms, and this technology has widely benefited educational settings. This study aims to identify the factors that drive the acceptance of 3DVWs as means for distance learning by higher education students, and provides a taxonomy of such drivers. A qualitative approach was employed for data collection to enable a detailed exploration. Two data collection instruments were used in the experiment: a virtual synchronous focus group and an open-ended question. One hundred twenty-one students participated in 13 virtual focus groups, and 124 students responded to the open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data, and as a result, 26 factors were identified as antecedents to the acceptance of 3DVW in higher education. Those factors are then classified into 12 categories based on their definition and similarities. Twenty-one out of the 26 factors impact the user acceptance of 3DVW positively, and five factors impact it negatively. The findings of this study indicate advances in theory, methodology, and pedagogical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de la Asociacion Aragonesa de Criticos de Arte is the property of Asociacion Aragonesa de Criticos de Arte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The recent advancement in immersive technologies opens up opportunities for the way individuals perceive and engage with information in public spaces to be innovated. This article discusses a study that investigates the application of Virtual Reality (VR) as an instrument for communicating engineering heritage in museum environments with the aim to enhance visitor experience. The study adopted Shannon’s communication theory as the main principle for contextualising heritage objects within virtual environments. This approach can benefit curators in informing the way the intended meaning, value, and context behind museum artefacts to be delivered through visual narratives and aesthetics. In this study, three VR scenarios have been developed using the Unreal engine to investigate the aspects of learning, interaction, and immersion during the virtual experience. One-way ANOVA approach was used to determine the significant differences between the proposed factors in the study. The study found that the absence of interaction in the immersive scenario reduced the mean score leading to a lack of constructive guidance during navigation. Whereas using Gamified and narrated approaches significantly increased the mean value of the participants compared to the control group. While many researchers argue that the utilisation of VR could improve the users’ level of presence, the study outcomes suggest that there are certain conditions that should be structured during the development process to facilitate better engagement with virtual content. To achieve these conditions, gamification and storytelling strategies have been found to be effective in delivering an interactive immersive experience for engaging with heritage artefacts and contents.

An Augmented Reality (AR) system is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images, sounds, or text, onto a user's view of the real world, providing an enriched and interactive experience of the surrounding environment. It has evolved into a potent instrument for improving human perception and decision-making across various domains, including industrial, automotive, healthcare, and urban planning. This systematic literature review aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of AR technology, its limitations, and implementation challenges in the most significant areas of application in engineering and beyond. The review will explore the state-of-the-art AR techniques, their potential use cases, and the barriers to widespread adoption, while also identifying future research directions and opportunities for innovation in the rapidly evolving field of augmented reality. This study works as a compilation of the existing technologies in the subject, especially useful for beginners in AR or as a starting point for developers who seek to innovate or implement new technologies, thus knowing the limitations and current challenges that could arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of using a combination two novel technologies on the development of knowledge and understanding of ecological science concepts for a small of preservice primary teachers, who had self-identified as having low prior background knowledge in science concepts and low confidence in their abilities in teaching science. Eight first year preservice teachers participated in an intervention that combined the use of an immersive environment with a modelling environment to deepen their content knowledge of ecology concepts and to build their confidence in learning and teaching science. The results of the study indicate that the participants self-reported that their confidence increased as a result of their engagement with tlie computer-based activities. The combined use of these two environments was found in this study to support the visualisation of ecological concepts, increase collaboration and promote engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the immersive environments of Arte Programmata to make an argument about the significance of Italy within the global history of computer art. In environments made between 1964 and 1968 by artists of Gruppo T, Gruppo N, Gruppo MID, and Enzo Mari, the influence of computers is evident in the analogies between humans and machines: the artist as programmer, the audience as information network, and the artwork as alternately a mode of visual communication and a phenomenological confrontation with the impenetrable black box. Situating these works within artistic and political debates in Italy as well as transnational conversations about new media art, experimental psychology, and cybernetics, this essay unpacks the intricacies of early computer art in Italy while offering a critical analysis of one of the key terms—the model—used to articulate its political stakes. It argues that the ambienti demonstrate that computers were modeling new conceptions of the human, but these experimental artworks also, crucially, demand a critical reckoning with the political implications and epistemological limits of the model as such.

To understand the effects of specific elements that may enhance or detract residents’ well-being, it is important to explore the relationships between auditory and visual factors, based on people’s sensory experiences. Although residential environments provide natural experimental conditions to observe these relationships, the complexity of measuring sensory perceptions and their subsequent interpretation constitutes a challenge. This study aims to identify the influence of socio-demographics and residential location characteristics on three latent variables: noise-Sensitivity, sound-Pleasantness, and visual-Liveability in a Latin American city. The methodology is replicable and relies on a digital survey that displays environments in 360-format video and uses sound immersion techniques; it was applied to a sample of household heads in Quito, Ecuador. Based on an efficient experimental design, we selected different residential environments according to acoustic-visual attributes and the proximity to residential, commercial, and recreational land uses. Structural Equation Models (SEM) were estimated using mediating variables. Our results reveal the influence of noise-Sensitivity on sound-Pleasantness and, indirectly, on visual-Liveability. Further analysis shows that the impact of sound and visual perception changes with different socio-demographics and residential location characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gender digital divide (GDD) is a social phenomenon that denies citizens access to technologies, the internet, and the services associated with Education 4.0. Reducing this gap requires communicative literacy, which allows scaling knowledge, skills, and attitudes to create forms of media expression to interact effectively in virtual environments. Education 4.0 is a modern approach to education that focuses on preparing students to thrive in a digital and technological world. Additionally, Education 4.0 is based on three pedagogical principles, including Cyber pedagogy, Heutagogy, and Peeragogy, which emphasize the use of technology, self-determined learning, and collaboration, respectively. A mixed study was conducted with the participation of 124 Mexican students of technical-professional education. The study’s objective was to analyze how they scaled their communicative literacy and complex thinking through a formative experience based on the pedagogical framework of Education 4.0 in digital environments called metaverses to bridge the GDD in Mexico. Quantitative results show only significant differences in systemic thinking (z = –2.113, p = 0.035 < 0.05), where women had a slightly higher mean (M = 25.36) than men (M = 25.11). Qualitative results support the finding of women excelling in systemic thinking, as participants expressed comments related to systemic thinking (90%). This suggests that immersive digital environments can effectively enhance communicative literacy and complex thinking. Additionally, they can be spaces where both women and men achieve similar levels of digital literacy.

This study explores virtual reality (VR) uses in climate change storytelling. The study uses a mixed approach, i.e., qualitative content analysis, experiential media (EM) theoretical model, and the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report’s framework on the climate crisis. This study looks at nine different VR media productions on climate change available on the Oculus TV, a VR application by Meta Platforms Inc (formerly Facebook Inc). The nine VR media productions observation and experience involved the use of Oculus Quest 2 Head-Mounted Display (HMD) to understand: 1) to what extent do the VR media productions utilize six qualities of EM; 2) what themes do such VR media productions highlight pertaining to climate change, and 3) to what extent do such themes capture key points highlighted by the landmark IPCC 2018 special report’s framework. The findings revealed that all the nine VR media productions utilized limited qualities of EM, i.e., (1) interactivity, (2) immersion, (3) multisensory presentation, (4) algorithm and data, (5) first-person perspective, and (6) natural user interface. The findings also revealed five broad thematic categories, including global warming; biodiversity & endangered species; culture & traditions; conservation & disaster management; and agriculture, along with various sub-themes identified from all the nine VR media productions. The thematic analysis showed that the VR media productions utilized limited framing and contextualization of the issues pertaining to climate change — as opposed to the multidisciplinary approach that the IPCC report takes and offers as a framework to help people understand the gravity of the problem caused by climate change. The study extends the theoretical understanding of the role VR plays in highlighting the climate crisis and provides practical implications on the uses of VR for climate change storytelling and reporting.

To understand the effects of specific elements that may enhance or detract residents’ well-being, it is important to explore the relationships between auditory and visual factors, based on people’s sensory experiences. Although residential environments provide natural experimental conditions to observe these relationships, the complexity of measuring sensory perceptions and their subsequent interpretation constitutes a challenge. This study aims to identify the influence of socio-demographics and residential location characteristics on three latent variables: noise-Sensitivity, sound-Pleasantness, and visual-Liveability in a Latin American city. The methodology is replicable and relies on a digital survey that displays environments in 360-format video and uses sound immersion techniques; it was applied to a sample of household heads in Quito, Ecuador. Based on an efficient experimental design, we selected different residential environments according to acoustic-visual attributes and the proximity to residential, commercial, and recreational land uses. Structural Equation Models (SEM) were estimated using mediating variables. Our results reveal the influence of noise-Sensitivity on sound-Pleasantness and, indirectly, on visual-Liveability. Further analysis shows that the impact of sound and visual perception changes with different socio-demographics and residential location characteristics.

The article is devoted to the scientific problem of theoretical elaboration and contextualization of an immersive environment implemented in the physical space of a gallery or museum, as well as a site-specific work, or in VR and AR, which work to change anthropocentric optics. The aim of the research is to identify the peculiarities of the formation of an immersive environment and the practice of creating VR and AR projects in Ukrainian contemporary art, to identify the work of Ukrainian artists, which takes place outside the country at the intersection of the latest ideas in European culture with a focus on the relationship between human and nature. The task is to study the theoretical foundations of the subjectivity of nature and the development of immersive environments, review and analysis of projects that use digital technologies to create immersion. The methodology of the study consists in theoretical and field researches at the intersection of eco-topics and immersive technologies and the development of author's experiments as part of the research "Analytical Instruments for Audio-Visual Translation of Metabolomics" merging genotype and environment regarding climate changes at Iméra -- the Institute of Advanced Studies in Marseille. The main method is a comprehensive approach to highlight issues of the development of deep ecology, the theory of symbiosis, visual and photometric methods, analysis of concepts, spatial structure and artistic works. The peculiarities of creating an immersive environment in physical space were explored in the projects "Cosmogony", "Homage to Leonardo", "Garden of Divine Songs" after Hryhorii Skovoroda, "Homage to Matisse", "Gaia", "The Ocean", "Espace Ocean: Waters Come Into My Soul", "Ecocide", which analyzes the impact of the ongoing war on ecology, in order to be included into the national art discourse. The concept of "non-human agency" is concidered as an imperative of nature's subjectivity. The possibilities of molecular sonification in metabolomics were analyzed. A brief overview of the VR projects "Invasions 1.2.3", "Atmospheric Forest" and "First Day" and AR "Vegetable Kingdom, Vegetable Anarchy" is provided. Festivals OVNi in Nice, Scientifica #2 in Marseille, Ars Electronica in Linz, RIXC in Riga, UNESCO Media Art City in Karlsruhe and Venice Immersive are considered as platforms for the construction of "future civilization". The instrumentality of immersive environments for changing anthropocentric optics has been revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite advances in utilizing physiological sensors and machine learning (ML) algorithms, accurately and consistently monitoring heat strain levels of field workers on job sites remains a challenge not fully addressed by previous research. Existing frameworks often fail to adapt to the diverse physiology of workers and their varied working conditions, leading to concerns about stability, reliability, and accuracy. To address these limitations, a worker-centered heat strain monitoring framework was introduced, leveraging physiological data from wearable biosensors for a more accurate and consistent estimation of heat strain risks. A high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) environment was developed to simulate heat-vulnerable occupations for quality data collection. Building on this foundation, EnsmTrBoost, a physiological sensing framework integrating ensemble learning and domain adaptation, was developed. This framework exhibited a remarkable prediction accuracy exceeding 93%. This paper advances heat strain monitoring and supports the development of early warning systems for heat-related fatalities at work sites. • A worker-centered heat stress monitoring framework is proposed. • Developed EnsmTrBoost algorithm predicts heat stress with 93.2% accuracy. • Framework adapts to individual variability, ensuring reliable strain assessment. • This approach can mitigate heat-related health risks among field workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Augmented Reality (AR) system is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images, sounds, or text, onto a user’s view of the real world, providing an enriched and interactive experience of the surrounding environment. It has evolved into a potent instrument for improving human perception and decision-making across various domains, including industrial, automotive, healthcare, and urban planning. This systematic literature review aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of AR technology, its limitations, and implementation challenges in the most significant areas of application in engineering and beyond. The review will explore the state-of-the-art AR techniques, their potential use cases, and the barriers to widespread adoption, while also identifying future research directions and opportunities for innovation in the rapidly evolving field of augmented reality. This study works as a compilation of the existing technologies in the subject, especially useful for beginners in AR or as a starting point for developers who seek to innovate or implement new technologies, thus knowing the limitations and current challenges that could arise.

This paper addresses 360-degree virtual immersive environments as image production and reception devices that produce an apparent deconstruction of the pictorial frame and filmic framing. Through such deconstruction, such environments promise to allow the user an immediate presence in the iconic environment and to foster an effective empathic relationship with the synthetic subjects encountered in that environment. The article will consider the foundations of such a promise, showing its substantial inconsistency, generated by the dual rhetorical suppression of the machine gaze and of the interaction with the interlocutor.

The overarching goal of this project is to enable pre-occupancy evaluation in architecture. This project uses computational techniques and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to develop and test an innovative method for decision-making enabled by collaborative multi-sensory pre-occupation of designs. A gaming engine was used to develop an immersive VR environment that allowed users to explore architectural spaces within a range of time-specific spatial conditions. This paper presents comparative user studies between VR and paper-based evaluation approaches. Two experimental streams were carried out including architecture professionals and students. This manuscript presents background studies, proposed methods, and results of user testing. Significant differences in responses between architecture practitioners and architecture students were identified, including satisfaction levels of visual and acoustic qualities of architectural spaces; and the ease of using VR for pre-occupancy assessments. The professional population was also more likely to change their original choice after being immersed in the VR experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]