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Around five years ago, virtual reality (VR) came back in the spotlight after years of oblivion among the general public. During those years, tremendous technological advances in the field occurred, leading to a resurgence of the technology. Even if it is common to associate virtual reality with the entertainment industry, the corporate world considers it as a key technology for more efficient operations. Moreover, various immersive technologies are developed to enhance virtual reality experiences. Therefore, two different aspects of immersive virtual reality are covered within the scope of this master thesis: virtual reality at the service of companies and hand tracking technologies.
After defining essential concepts of virtual reality, a literature review of business applications is conducted to describe the overall potential of the technology. This managerial approach is also adopted to answer the first research question, seeking to determine if the aviation industry could make use of immersive virtual reality for pilot training. A case study on ASL Airlines Belgium (ASLB) is used as a basis to provide an answer. After analysing the market of virtual reality flight simulators and developing an immersive proof of concept, the technical feasibility of the virtual reality system is confirmed and a differentiation strategy is suggested, based on a competitive analysis.
The second research question is more technical and deals with the comparison between two hand tracking immersive technologies in virtual reality, namely the Leap Motion and the Hi5 VR Gloves. Before analysing these immersive technologies, immersion and presence concepts are presented. Then, a comparative study between the two technologies is conducted using a within-subject experimental design. The proof of concept developed for ASLB serves as virtual environment for the experiments. Results show that the Leap Motion and the Hi5 VR Gloves provide a similar virtual reality experience in terms of presence, tracking, interaction, fluidity and precision. The findings contribute to research on immersive technologies but can also be useful to draw managerial conclusions for ASLB. Indeed, given the findings and the large price difference between the two hand tracking technologies, the cheapest one should be selected for the proof of concept, that is to say the Leap Motion.

Virtual reality --- Immersive technologies --- Aviation --- Flight simulator --- Training --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres

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A Smart City is the perfect environment to study and exploit the interactions between actors because its architecture already integrates vaious elements to collect data and connect to its citizens. Furthermore, the proliferation of web platforms (e.g., social media and web fora) and the increased affordability of sensors and IoT devices (e.g., smart meters) make data related to a large and diverse set of users accessible, as their activities in the digital world reflect their real-life actions. These new technologies can be of great use for the stakeholders as, on the one hand, they provide them with semantically rich inputs and frequent updates at a relatively cheap cost and, on the other, form a direct channel of communication with the citizens. To fully exploit these new data sources, we need both novel computational methods (e.g., AI, data mining algorithms, knowledge representation) that are suitable for analyzing and understanding the dynamics behind energy consumption and also a deeper understanding of how these methods can be integrated into the existing design and decision processes (e.g., human-in-the-loop processes).Therefore, this Special Issue welcomed original multidisciplinary research works about AI, data science methods, and their integration in existing design/decision-making processes in the domain of energy consumption in Smart Cities.

Research & information: general --- Physics --- building energy flexibility --- HOMER software --- peak clipping --- load shifting --- energy saving --- building performance assessment --- indoor environment quality --- occupants’ satisfaction --- post-occupancy evaluation --- Green Building Index --- tropical climate --- building performance simulation --- CO2 emission --- occupant’s comfort --- window allocation --- climate change --- energy consumption --- building energy load --- thermal load --- future weather --- operative temperature --- cooling load --- daily energy need --- solar gains --- nZEB --- historical buildings --- TRNSYS --- buildings retrofitting --- buildings office --- economic feasibility --- Renewable Energy Systems (RESs) --- Zero Energy District (ZED) --- Digital Twin (DT) --- Building Information Modelling (BIM) --- Geographic Information System (GIS) --- Revit software’s --- asymmetric duty cycle control --- bifilar coil --- pulse duty cycle control --- induction heating --- metal melting --- phase shift control --- pulse density modulation --- series resonant inverter --- variable frequency control --- building operation and maintenance --- extended reality --- virtual reality --- augmented reality --- mixed reality --- immersive technologies --- digital twins --- metaverse --- positive energy district --- district energy infrastructure --- decarbonisation of neighbourhoods --- GIS --- energy transition --- smart city policy --- carbon emission intensity --- digital transformation --- green innovation --- difference-in-differences --- n/a --- occupants' satisfaction --- occupant's comfort --- Revit software's