Henrik Engström

Sidh - a Game Based Firefighter Training Simulation

This paper presents Sidh-a game based firefighter training simulator developed in cooperation between the University ofSkvde and the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. Sidh is based on computer game hardware and software solutions but adds a novel interaction model and gameplay specifically developed for the purpose of training firefighters. The simulator environment is a cave where the player is interacting with the game through a set of sensors. Players move in the virtual world by movements in the physical world and a substantial physical effort is required to accomplish game tasks. Sidh has been used in a feasibility study where 31 firefighter students have been playing the game and the performance of these students as well as their reflections from using the game have been analyzed. Results from this study show that Sidh is a useful complement to traditional training methods and that the subjects give very high grades on the entertainment value of the game which indicate that this form of training may be self-motivating which is an important issue for voluntary, after-hours training.

Games for traffic education: An experimental study of a game-based driving simulator

In this article, the authors report on the construction and evaluation of a game-based driving simulator using a real car as a joystick. The simulator is constructed from off-the-shelf hardware and the simulation runs on open-source software. The feasibility of the simulator as a learning tool has been experimentally evaluated. Results are reported from an experimental study of games and traffic safety performed in an advanced gaming environment. During car simulator sessions, the authors collected data about different traffic safety variables, such as speed, headway distance, and lane change behavior, from 70 participants. The data were analyzed to investigate possible individual learning effects and differences between groupings of participants. The experiment shows clear, positive, individual learning effects for all traffic safety variables analyzed. The authors also made a qualitative analysis of the participants’ perception of the simulator as a learning tool. From the results, it is concluded that a game-based simulation can be used to enhance learning in driving education.

Designing for Self-Efficacy in a Game Based Simulator: An Experimental Study and Its Implications for Serious Games Design

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on designing for self-efficacy in a game based driving simulator. Self-efficacy refers to how peoplepsilas beliefs in their capabilities affect their actions. The results show that the design of the feedback system can be used to increase self-efficacy measures thus affecting performance in a driving simulator environment. Self-efficacy has consequences not only for the performance of the particular task, but also for what activities he/she chooses to engage in and the persistence invested in them. Hence we find the results from this study relevant to various aspects of serious games design.

Games and Traffic Safety - an Experimental Study in a Game-Based Simulation Environment

In this paper we report results from an experimental study of games and traffic safety performed in an advanced gaming environment. During car simulator-sessions we collected data over different traffic safety variables, such as speed, headway distance and lane change behavior, from 70 subjects. The data was analyzed in order to investigate possible individual learning effects and differences between groupings of subjects. The experiment shows clear positive individual learning effects for all traffic safety variables analyzed. Hence we conclude that game based simulations can be used to enhance learning in driving education.

SIDH : A Game-Based Architecture for a Training Simulator

Game-based simulators, sometimes referred to as “lightweight” simulators, have benefits such as flexible technology and economic feasibility. In this article, we extend the notion of a game-based simulator by introducing multiple screen view and physical interaction. These features are expected to enhance immersion and fidelity. By utilizing these concepts we have constructed a training simulator for breathing apparatus entry. Game hardware and software have been used to produce the application. More important, the application itself is deliberately designed to be a game. Indeed, one important design goal is to create an entertaining and motivating experience combined with learning goals in order to create a serious game. The system has been evaluated in cooperation with the Swedish Rescue Services Agency to see which architectural features contribute to perceived fidelity. The modes of visualization and interaction as well as level design contribute to the usefulness of the system.

The Birth of Elinor: A Collaborative Development of a Game Based System for Stroke Rehabilitation

Elinor is a game based tool for rehabilitation of stroke patients to be used in their home environment. The application is the result of a creative and exploratory development project in which researchers in the serious games area and experts in stroke rehabilitation collaborated in order to develop a motivating, easy to use and relatively inexpensive tool for relearning functions lost due to a stroke. Elinor can be viewed as an integrated system for stroke rehabilitation in that it is both a system, controlled by movements, for training of its primary user group and a system for monitoring the training by medical expertise. In this paper, we will describe the Elinor application itself, the development process and the initial evaluation of it in order to identify implications for serious games.

A User-centric View of Data Warehouse Maintenance Issues

Data in warehouses need to be updated in a timely manner from underlying operational data sources. This is referred to as warehouse maintenance. Not all of the data in the warehouse has the same requirement in terms of staleness (how old can it be with respect to the actual data), or its inverse freshness, and consistency (combining data from autonomous sources may give rise to some inconsistency). Given the requirements and schema information of a data warehouse, identifying policies for change detection and warehouse maintenance is a complex task. In this paper we identify a problem with current specification of user requirements, and suggest a specification scheme that is more general and user-oriented than extant suggestions. We also survey various policies that have been proposed for data propagation and analyse how change detection capabilities of sources influence user, as well as system requirements.

Gamers against All Odds

The goal of the project presented in this paper is to enable motor rehabilitation to stroke patients in their home environment and to utilise game enjoyment to achieve frequent training. Stroke patients have an average age above 70 years, which implies that they typically do not belong to a gaming generation. In addition, these patients suffer from motor, and many times cognitive impairments, which make traditional games extremely difficult to use. Nearly all work in this area has been conducted in a clinic environment where it is possible to overcome some of these difficulties by letting professionals assist and guide patients. In this paper, we present the challenges faced, the system itself and the result from a study where five patients were equipped with a game console in their homes for five weeks. The focus of this paper is on analysing the gaming behaviour of patients, which includes the amount of time they spent, the type of games they selected and their comments on the gaming experience. The conclusion from this analysis is that their behaviour resembles that of gamers. They spent significant voluntary time, and it has been possible for patients, with no prior experience of computer games, to enjoy gaming in their homes where they had no professional assistance.

Evaluation of Usefulness of the Elinor Console for Home-Based Stroke Rehabilitation

Virtual rehabilitation has emerged as a promising tool over the last decade. However the field is diverse and there is no unified understanding of the concept and in which situations it should be used. The most common usage context is a rehabilitation clinic but there is an urge to offer motivating virtual rehabilitation to be used in the homes of patients. The main drive for using such systems is to enhance motivation by introducing an interesting challenge and an element of fun. This paper describes and evaluates the feasibility of Elinor, a game-based system for stroke rehabilitation in the home. The Elinor prototype has been positively evaluated with respect to its usability, user acceptance and motivational factors. This paper reports on the initial findings concerning the rehabilitation effect of Elinor. No persons suffered any serious adverse effects from training. We had positive results with respect to the assessment of motor and process skills (AMPS). Even though these improvements were not significant they are still positive enough to motivate future work. The self-reported improvements in the motor activity logs (MAL) also motivate future work.

A Systematic Approach to Selecting Maintenance Policies in a Data Warehouse Environment

Most work on data warehousing addresses aspects related to the internal operation of a data warehouse server, such as selection of views to materialise, maintenance of aggregate views and performance of OLAP queries. Issues related to data warehouse maintenance, i.e. how changes to autonomous sources should be detected and propagated to a warehouse, have been addressed in a fragmented manner. Although data propagation policies, source database capabilities, and user requirements have been addressed individually, their co-dependencies and relationships have not been explored. In this paper, we present a comprehensive framework for evaluating data propagation policies against data warehouse requirements and source capabilities. We formalize data warehouse specification along the dimensions of staleness, response time, storage, and computation cost, and classify source databases according to their data propagation capabilities. A detailed cost-model is presented for a representative set of policies. A prototype tool has been developed to allow an exploration of the various trade-offs.