Abstract
Typical VR interactions can be tiring, including standing up, walking, and mid-air gestures. Such interactions result in decreased comfort and session duration compared with traditional non-VR interfaces, which may, in turn, reduce productivity. Nevertheless, current approaches often neglect this aspect, making the VR experience not as promising as it can be. As we see it, desk VR experiences provide the convenience and comfort of a desktop experience and the benefits of VR immersion, being a good compromise between the overall experience and ergonomics. In this work, we explore navigation techniques targeted at desk VR users, using both controllers and a large multi-touch surface. We address travel and orientation techniques independently, considering only continuous approaches for travel as these are better suited for exploration and both continuous and discrete approaches for orientation. Results revealed advantages for a continuous controller-based travel method and a trend for a dragging-based orientation technique. Also, we identified possible trends towards task focus affecting overall cybersickness symptomatology.

Abstract
Access to early myoelectric training can be a crucial step in mastering prosthesis control. Controlling a prothesis is a cognitively demanding task with high rejection rates. Serious games not only provide patients with an opportunity to train their myoelectric control, but also help maintain their engagement throughout the extensive rehabilitation process. This work proposes a novel serious game design to train machine learning based myoelectric control, implemented in the form of a music-based app. The prototype of the game was evaluated by seven able-bodied participants and three clinical professionals with regard to system usability and motivation. Results showed positive outcomes in motivation, and a need for specific system usability improvements. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Abstract
Depression is a mental disease that affects over 264 million people worldwide and is responsible for causing great suffering, work dysfunction, faulty education, family relationships and can lead to suicide. Depression stigma prevents over half of the people who suffer from major depression from seeking professional help. Stigma mostly results from a deficient understanding of the mental disease. Research indicates that first-hand experiences of the perceptions of an individual diagnosed with a mental disorder in a simulated virtual reality environment can increase empathy and positive attitudes towards the individual. Interactive VR experiences have been described as a human-computer interface that enables users to immerse themselves in a computer generated, multi-dimensional environment. This project aims at examining the impact of a VR-assisted experience on reducing stigma and increase empathy towards individuals with depression. Following a methodology based on well-established results from psychology about common depression misunderstandings, we present a VR experience that simulates some of the most common difficulties encountered by people diagnosed with depression.

Abstract