Elisangela Vilar

ABSTRACT Emergencies (e.g., fire egress) into complex buildings are stressful situations which can provoke unexpected, undesired and sometimes unsafety behaviors in the users. Thus, the main objective of this pilot study was to investigate the relative influence of new technology-based exit signs, when compared to the conventional static ISO-type counterparts, in the users’ wayfinding behavior during an emergency egress. A critical situation was designed in which the environmental variables and exit signs, at the 12 decision points, were giving conflicting directional information. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to the two groups (i.e., Static signs and dynamic signs), and their route-choices in the 12 decision points displaced along a route into a virtual hotel were collected using a Virtual Reality-based methodology. Findings suggest that for the group exposed to static ISO-type exit signs, the reliance on environmental variables decreased along the egress route, and for the first intersection about 73% of participants preferred to follow by the direction which was the opposite of that posted on the egress sign. However, when technology-based signs were used, the influence of the environmental variables was weak from the first decision point to the end, as suggested by a compliance rate with the exit signs reaching almost 98% along the entire route.

ABSTRACT Recent researches suggest that Virtual Reality (VR) is amongst the best tools for examining behavioral compliance with warnings, therefore overcoming some ethical and methodological constrains that have been limiting this type of research. Yet, such evaluation using VR requires both usable and engaging virtual environments (VEs). This study examines the sense of presence experienced by the participants after having been immersed in a VE designed for evaluating the effect of sign type (static vs. dynamic) on compliance. The VR simulation tested here allowed participants to perform a realistic work-related task and an emergency egress, during which they were supposed to interact with warnings and exit signs. A neutral condition (i.e., no/minimal signs) was used as a control condition. Subjective and objective data were gathered from two sources, respectively, i.e., a post-hoc questionnaire administered to the participants, and a video analysis of the participants’ interaction behavior during the VR simulation. Results reveal high levels of presence across the three experimental conditions.

ABSTRACT Many studies have shown the ability of interior design elements (e.g., artwork, nature, home elements) to elicit positive emotions on hospital users thereby enhancing the healing process. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether such elements can affect users’ emotional responses during a VR experience. In this study we explored the influence of interior design elements (i.e., landscape poster, painting, plant and home chair), on the participants’ emotional responses after being exposed to 3D virtual hospital rooms. We used a short version of Zipers scales, developed by Zuckerman, to explore participants’ emotional responses regarding 28 rooms, resulting from all the possible combinations of the identified elements plus a neutral and a negative room. Our sample included 30 university students. The results show that the more elements present in the hospital room the more positive the emotional response. The landscape and artwork elements emitted positive responses, whereas the home chair did not.

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the strength of environmental variables (i.e., corridor width and brightness), in directing people to indoor locations during emergency situations. The existence of contradictory information was manipulated by inserting posted signs pointing to the opposite direction to the one suggested by the environmental variables. A Virtual Reality-based methodology was used to collect participants’ directional choices. Sixty-four participants had to find a specific room as quickly as possible in a virtual hotel in which they navigated through 12 corridor intersections (two-forced-choices). Two experimental conditions were considered (i.e., Signs and No-signs conditions) accord- ing to the exit signs availability. Results indicated that for the first decision point in an emergency situation with signs, 65.6% of the participants preferred to follow the wider corridor instead of the exit sign direction. Percentages of choices favoring the path opposite to that posted by the sign decreased along the escape route suggesting that with the repeated exposure to an exit sign people increased their compliance with it.

ABSTRACT Many features of a Virtual Reality system can influence the immersion and the sense of presence. Navigation is one of those features, since proprioceptive and vestibular cues can have a positive impact on immersion and sense of presence. This is especially important for studies about human behavior, where behavioral responses should be as close as in the real world. Different types of interfaces are been developed to be more natural and closer to mov- ing in a real environment. A Walk-In-Place (WIP) interface can be used in small rooms and gives some proprioceptive and vestibular cues. A participant walks in the same place and a device captures that movement and translates it to movement inside the Virtual Environment. This paper presents a strategy for implementing a WIP interface using only one inertial orientation sensor, placed above the knee, mainly about the calibration and real-time detection phases and the approach taken on direction changing.

This study examined the relative influence of environmental variables (corridor width and brightness) and signage (directional and exit signs), when presented in competition, on participants' route-choices in two situational variables (everyday vs. emergency), during indoor wayfinding in virtual environments. A virtual reality-based methodology was used. Thus, participants attempted to find a room (everyday situation) in a virtual hotel, followed by a fire-related emergency egress (emergency situation). Different behaviours were observed. In the everyday situation, for no-signs condition, participants choose mostly the wider and brighter corridors, suggesting a heavy reliance on the environmental affordances. Conversely, for signs condition, participants mostly complied with signage, suggesting a greater reliance on the signs rather than on the environmental cues. During emergency, without signage, reliance on environmental affordances seems to be affected by the intersection type. In the sign condition, the reliance on environmental affordances that started strong decreases along the egress route.

Successful cases of professional reintegration were achieved when adequate conditions were created for the adaptation of the worker with disability to the working environment and to the professional activity, allowing them to carry out all their functions without any restriction. In this sense, this paper presents a methodology for professional integration of people with disability in service companies and industry. It has as results a matrix of analysis of a set of observables for the reintegration of people with disability into the labour market, as well as an auxiliary tool for those who work in recruitment of personnel. The main objective was to develop a tool (i.e., a software) based on the crossing of data obtained from the analysis of the individual capacities and the requirements of the job to optimise the relationship between worker and the workplace. There was also considered a series of strategies which can be adopted by the individuals and the possible adaptations in the workplace, as a way to reduce the handicap in the accomplishment of different activities. The methodology for the development of this study is divided in two phases: Phase I, destined to the assessment criteria and classification of the indispensable functional characteristics of the individuals; Phase II, related to the assessment criteria of the jobs and the functions that have to be performed. As a result it was developed an evaluation tool to match the individuals' capabilities and the job requirements. A software was created to support the evaluation and to help professionals during the assessment. This methodology together with the support tool demonstrated to be a quite inclusive tool, as it considers, as a matter of priority, the capacities of the individuals and the real necessities of the workplaces.

Abstract. This paper presents a methodology to evaluate the accessibility degree in companies, which was developed in a human centred perspective. For this purpose we considered physical, sensorial and cognitive deficiencies. A guide based on this methodology was ...

MJ Dainoff (Ed.): Ergonomics and Health Aspects, HCII 2007, LNCS 4566, pp. 359–367, 2007. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 ... Methodology to Apply a Usability Testing by Non ... Specialized People: Evaluation of the European Platform

This paper reports results from a research project investigating users' navigation in a Virtual Environment (VE), using immersive Virtual Reality. The experiment was conducted to study the extent that certain features of the environment (ie, colors, windows, furniture, signage, ...