Massey Research Online - Browsing by Author "Feng Z"

Browsing by Author "Feng Z"

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A quantitative comparison of virtual and physical experimental paradigms for the investigation of pedestrian responses in hostile emergencies.
(Springer Nature, 2024-03-22) Shipman A; Majumdar A; Feng Z; Lovreglio R
Modern experiments investigating human behaviour in emergencies are often implemented in virtual reality (VR), due to the increased experimental control and improved ethical viability over physical reality (PR). However, there remain questions regarding the validity of the results obtained from these environments, and no full validation of VR experiments has yet appeared. This study compares the results of two sets of experiments (in VR and PR paradigms) investigating behavioural responses to knife-based hostile aggressors. This study quantitatively analyses these results to ascertain whether the different paradigms generate different responses, thereby assessing the use of virtual reality as a data generating paradigm for emergencies. The results show that participants reported almost identical psychological responses. This study goes on to identify minimal differences in movement responses across a range of predictors, noting a difference in responses between genders. As a result, this study concludes that VR can produce similarly valid data as physical experiments when investigating human behaviour in hostile emergencies, and that it is therefore possible to conduct realistic experimentation through VR environments while retaining confidence in the resulting data. This has major implications for the future of this type of research, and furthermore suggests that VR experimentation should be performed for both existing and new critical infrastructure to understand human responses in hostile scenarios.
A sequence analysis of behaviors in immersive virtual reality for indoor earthquake and post-earthquake evacuation
(1/06/2022) Feng Z; González VA; Spearpoint M; Thomas J; Trotter M; Cabrera-Guerrero G; Paes D
Behavioral sequence analysis (BSA) gives insights to understand and model individual behaviors. The present study uses BSA for a virtual earthquake. The virtual earthquake drill was facilitated by a head-mounted display (HMD)-based immersive virtual reality (IVR) system. Eighty-three participants experienced a full earthquake and post-earthquake evacuation in a virtual hospital building. Concurrent verbal protocol analysis (VPA) and retrospective video analysis of the footage of participants’ in-IVR behaviors have been conducted to identify the behavioral sequence of participants. As a result, behavioral transition diagrams are generated, showing the progression of behaviors exhibited in the virtual earthquake drill. A variety of behavioral paths for each individual participant is presented using a visual analytics approach. The behavioral transition diagrams and behavioral paths expose the full picture of human behaviors in an earthquake emergency, which are vital to developing behavior-oriented strategies for earthquake emergencies.
Augmented reality applications in construction productivity: A systematic literature review
(Elsevier Ltd, 2024-10) Xu Z; Feng Z; Babaeian Jelodar M; Guo BHW
Augmented reality (AR) has been extensively researched for its applications in the construction industry. However, there is limited focus on its effects on productivity. This paper aims to bridge the gap by using a systematic literature review to investigate AR applications in the planning, design, and construction phases, focusing on their mechanisms for enhancing productivity. The paper classifies AR applications by their target construction tasks, features, and factors contributing to improved productivity. Additionally, it proposes a framework for prototyping AR applications and evaluating their effects on productivity. Key findings reveal several contributions: the need for further investigation of AR for positioning and hazard notification tasks; the utilisation of different augmentation methods, display tools, and tracking methods based on specific construction tasks; AR's positive impact on productivity in design review, discrepancy check, assembly, and hazard notification, while future research on evaluating productivity in progress management, planning simulation, and positioning.
Building Information Modeling Education for Quantity Surveyors in Hong Kong: Current States, Education Gaps, and Challenges
(1/01/2023) Keung CCW; Yiu TW; Feng Z
Rapid developments in building information modeling (BIM) are escalating the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry toward digital transformation. However, the lack of skilled BIM professionals is a critical issue slowing this transformation. Currently, few educational institutions include BIM topics in their curricula, especially those developed for quantity surveying (QS) programs. Moreover, the learning outcomes of BIM curricula may not meet the current industrial requirements. Thus, this study investigated the current states, gaps, and challenges of BIM education for QS practices in Hong Kong. This study conducted surveys to determine industrial requirements and a case study to examine the BIM curricula currently offered at Hong Kong educational institutions. The results suggest that the current BIM education for QS practices is in line with the pace of BIM development in the AEC industry. However, some advanced topics are not covered in BIM education. Additionally, the non-standardized BIM competencies to be attained by students lead to uncertainty and challenges in BIM education for quantity surveyors.
Building Information Modelling in quantity surveying practices: current state and future challenges in Hong Kong
(ITcon, 2022-12) Keung CCW; Yiu TW; Feng Z; Amor R
The use of building information modelling (BIM) in recent years has accelerated the performance and productivity of the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. BIM can promote lean management, with enhanced control over budget and cost. However, the application of BIM for quantity surveying (QS) practices has not been extensively explored. Thus, this study examined the current situation and future challenges of BIM adoption in QS practices in Hong Kong. Questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews were administered to obtain insights from AEC industry practitioners in Hong Kong. Sixty survey respondents and nine interviewees participated in this study. The participants were quantity surveyors from developers, consultancy firms, and contractor companies. Results suggest that quantity surveyors are increasingly adopting BIM in Hong Kong. However, the low quality of BIM models and improper implementation of BIM often limit BIM adoption in QS practices. Another critical challenge is the absence of well-recognised BIM standards. Moreover, the shortage of skilled BIM professionals jeopardises the development and adoption of BIM in QS practices. The findings highlight the current achievements and barriers associated with BIM adoption in QS practices in Hong Kong. Prerequisites for successfully applying BIM in QS practices are suggested herein.
Evolutionary Game and Simulation of Green Housing Market Subject Behavior in China.
(John Wiley and Sons, 2022-04-05) Qian Y; Yu M; Wang T; Yuan R; Feng Z; Zhao X; Fu H
In China, driven by the national "3060" double carbon targets (i.e., reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060), green housing has become one of the major fields to reduce carbon emissions, facilitating the achievement of the double carbon targets. Promoting the growth of green housing is an important way for the real estate industry to achieve low-carbon transformation and improve the quality of housing. Meanwhile, the construction industry also can benefit from green housing to achieve its energy conservation and emission reduction targets. Therefore, it is critical to boost and maintain the sustainable growth of the green housing market in China. However, the literature has not focused attention on the market behavior of the green housing market in China. This study proposes a tripartite evolutionary game model to investigate the subject behavior of the green housing market in China. This model consists of three major subjects in a green housing market: developers, consumers, and governments. Based on this model, this study analyzes the stability of the strategy options for each stakeholder and identifies the stable conditions of strategy portfolios to reach the equilibrium points of the game system. The validity of the proposed tripartite evolutionary game model is tested through the simulation of the impacts from various factors on system evolution. According to the impacts of factors and the stable conditions of strategies, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions for the healthy and sustainable growth of China's green housing market.
Exploring spiral narratives with immediate feedback in immersive virtual reality serious games for earthquake emergency training
(1/01/2023) Feng Z; González VA; Mutch C; Amor R; Cabrera-Guerrero G
Various attempts and approaches have been made to teach individuals about the knowledge of best practice for earthquake emergencies. Among them, Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games (IVR SGs) have been suggested as an effective tool for emergency training. The notion of IVR SGs is consistent with the concept of problem-based gaming (PBG), where trainees interact with games in a loop of forming a playing strategy, applying the strategy, observing consequences, and making reflection. PBG triggers reflection-on-action, enabling trainees to reform perceptions and establish knowledge after making a response to a scenario. However, in the literature of PBG, little effort has been made for trainees to reflect while they are making a response (i.e., reflection-in-action) in a scenario. In addition, trainees do not have the possibility to adjust their responses and reshape their behaviors according to their reflection-in-action. In order to overcome these limitations, this study proposes a game mechanism, which integrates spiral narratives with immediate feedback, to underpin reflection-in-action and reflective redo in PBG. An IVR SG training system suited to earthquake emergency training was developed, incorporating the proposed game mechanism. A controlled experiment with 99 university students and staff was conducted. Participants were divided into three groups, with three interventions tested: a spiral narrated IVR SG, a linear narrated IVR SG, and a leaflet. Both narrated IVR SGs were effective in terms of immediate knowledge gain and self-efficacy improvement. However, challenges and opportunities for future research have been suggested.
MMAF-Net: Multi-view multi-stage adaptive fusion for multi-sensor 3D object detection
(Elsevier B.V., 2023-12-05) Zhang W; Shi H; Zhao Y; Feng Z; Lovreglio R
In this paper, we propose a 3D object detection method called MMAF-Net that is based on the multi-view and multi-stage adaptive fusion of RGB images and LiDAR point cloud data. This is an end-to-end architecture, which combines the characteristics of RGB images, the front view of point clouds based on reflection intensity, and the bird's eye view of point clouds. It also adopts a multi-stage fusion approach of “data-level fusion + feature-level fusion” to fully exploit the strength of multimodal information. Our proposed method addresses key challenges found in current 3D object detection methods for autonomous driving, including insufficient feature extraction from multimodal data, rudimentary fusion techniques, and sensitivity to distance and occlusion. To ensure the comprehensive integration of multimodal information, we present a series of targeted fusion methods. Firstly, we propose a novel input form that encodes dense point cloud reflectivity information into the image to enhance its representational power. Secondly, we design the Region Attention Adaptive Fusion module utilizing an attention mechanism to guide the network in adaptively adjusting the importance of different features. Finally, we extend the 2D DIOU (Distance Intersection over Union) loss function to 3D and develop a joint regression loss based on 3D_DIOU and SmoothL1 to optimize the similarity between detected and ground truth boxes. The experimental results on the KITTI dataset demonstrate that MMAF-Net effectively addresses the challenges posed by highly obscured or crowded scenes while maintaining real-time performance and improving the detection accuracy of smaller and more difficult objects that are occluded at far distances.
Optical see-through augmented reality fire safety training for building occupants
(Elsevier B.V., 2024-03-15) Paes D; Feng Z; King M; Khorrami Shad H; Sasikumar P; Pujoni D; Lovreglio R
Fire safety training is crucial to increase building occupants' chances of surviving a fire emergency. Traditional training methods, such as lectures using video presentations, have limitations that can hinder learning performance. This article describes the development and testing of an alternative training solution using Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Through a controlled between-subject experiment, the AR-based fire safety training method was compared against a conventional video-based one based on participants' knowledge acquisition and retention, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy. Results suggest that the AR system was well-designed and as effective as the traditional method in terms of knowledge acquisition and retention and overall learning experience. However, it was found to be superior in terms of intrinsic motivation gain and self-efficacy retention. These findings demonstrate the potential of AR-based training methods to enhance building occupants' safety and provide directions for future developments and research in the field.
Prototyping and testing a virtual reality counterterrorism serious game for active shooting
(Elsevier B.V., 2022-09-28) Lovreglio R; Daphney-Chloe N; Rahouti A; Paes D; Feng Z; Shipman A
An active shooting emergency requires an effective strategy to increase the chances of survival of the attacked population. Educational environments are one of the most common locations of such events. To reduce the impact of these disasters, several emergency plans have been developed and put in place. Traditionally, these emergency plans are taught to occupants using non-interactive videos, drills, etc. However, these conventional methods present many limitations regarding trainees' knowledge acquisition, engagement and self-efficacy. To overcome them, this paper presents the prototype of an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Serious Game (SG) for counterterrorism training. A user-centred evaluation of the proposed training SG was conducted with 32 participants. The experiment aimed to investigate the impact of the proposed tool on participants' knowledge regarding the safest actions to take in case of an active shooter attack. Participants' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy levels were also assessed before and after the VR-based training. Findings indicate that participants’ knowledge, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy significantly increased immediately after the training.
Virtual reality for safety training: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis
(Elsevier B.V., 2023-11-18) Scorgie D; Feng Z; Paes D; Parisi F; Yiu TW; Lovreglio R
Unsafe behaviour in the workplace and disaster events can lead to serious harm and damage. Safety training has been a widely studied topic over the past two decades. Its primary aim is to save lives and minimise damage but requires regular refreshers. New digital technologies are helping in the process of enhancing safety training for better knowledge acquisition and retention. Among them, Virtual Reality (VR) can provide an engaging and exciting training experience, and there is a need to evaluate its application and effectiveness in safety training. This study aims to investigate VR safety training solutions applied to various industries (excluding medical and military applications), such as construction, fire, aviation, and mining. This was achieved by systematically reviewing 52 articles published between 2013 and 2021 to answer nine research questions. Fourteen domains were examined, with construction and fire safety training being the most prevalent since 2018. Findings reveal that only a small percentage (9.6 %) of the studies explicitly adopted theories while developing and testing VR applications. Additionally, this review highlights a critical need for long-term retention measurements, as only 36 % of studies provided such data. Finally, the two meta-analyses proposed in this work demonstrate that VR safety training outperforms traditional training in terms of knowledge acquisition and retention.

Browsing by Author "Feng Z"

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