Virtual field trip is a way of providing users with some knowledge and exposure of a facility without requiring them to physically visit the location. Due to the high computational costs that are necessary to produce virtual environments (VEs), the potential for photorealism is sacrificed. Often these three-dimensional (3D) modeled applications use an unrealistic VE and, therefore, do not provide a full depiction of real-world environments. Panoramas can be used to showcase complex scenarios that are difficult to model and are computationally expensive to view in virtual reality (VR). Utilizing 360° panoramas can provide a low-cost and quick-to-capture alternative with photorealistic representations of the actual environment. The advantages of photorealism over 3D models for training and education are not clearly defined. This paper initially summarizes the development of a VR training application and initial pilot study. Quantitative and qualitative study then was conducted to compare the effectiveness of a 360° panorama VR training application and a 3D modeled one. Switching to a mobile VR headset saves money, increases mobility, decreases set-up and breakdown time, and has less spatial requirements. Testing results of the 3D modeled VE group had an average normalized gain of 0.03 and the 360° panorama group, 0.43. Although the 3D modeled group had slightly higher realism according to the presence questionnaire and had slightly higher averages in the comparative analysis questionnaire, the 360° panorama application has shown to be the most effective for training and the quickest to develop.

In this work, performance analysis and comparison of three photovoltaic technologies are carried out in the Louisiana climate. During the calendar year of 2018, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette constructed and commissioned a 1.1 MW solar photovoltaic power plant for researching solar power in southern Louisiana and for partial energy demand of the university. It was one of the largest solar photovoltaic power plants in Louisiana when constructed and receives an annual solar insolation of 4.88 kWh/m²/d at latitude minus five degrees (25°) tilt. The solar power plant has a total of 4142 modules and incorporates three module technologies. Preliminary performance data from the system level are presented. The evaluation of different technologies is based on final yield, performance ratio, and capacity factor for one year from September 2019 to August 2020. An economic analysis is carried out using levelized cost of energy for the three photovoltaic (PV) technologies. Finally, the results are compared with simulated results of System Advisor Model (SAM) and PVsyst. It was found that copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) has better performance ratio of 0.79 compared with monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon, which have performance ratios of 0.77 and 0.73, respectively. The simulation results correlated with the actual performance of the plant.

Soiling effects influence the output of solar thermal plants, significantly causing unwanted transmittance, reflectance, and absorbance losses. Research is needed to identify what type of reflective surfaces are best suited for semitropical climates, such as the southeastern United States. This paper initially presents a review of several concentrating solar power (CSP) reflector testbeds used to analyze the soiling effects of various reflective materials. A soiling testbed is developed for this study that comprised six sets of reflective surfaces mounted at a fixed tilt of 30 degrees: three sets of thin-film surfaces and three sets of glass types. Two generations of 3M solar mirror film (SMF), 3M SMF 1100 and 3M SMF 2020, were used along with Konica Minolta SMF, silvered Corning Willow Glass, a dichroic cold mirror, and a standard mirror. Results show that the 3M SMF 2020 and Konica Minolta SMF performed the best during regular cleaning intervals, whereas the silvered Corning Willow Glass gave the best performance if only cleaned naturally. The other glass types showed the least average loss due to soiling throughout this study but gave the lowest performance for specular reflection.

As the interest in Virtual Reality (VR) increases, so does the number of software toolkits available for various VR applications. Given that more games are being made with the Unity game engine than any other game technology, several of these toolkits are developed to be directly imported into Unity. A feature and interaction comparison of the toolkits is needed by Unity developers to properly suit one for a specific application. This paper presents an overview and comparison of several virtual reality toolkits available for developers using the Unity game engine. getReal3D, MiddleVR, and Reality-based User Interface System (RUIS) are analysed for VR interaction and display on multi-projection immersive environments like Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVE)s. MiddleVR was found to have the highest performance and most versatile toolkit for CAVE display and interaction. However, taking cost into account, RUIS is the clear winner as it is available for free under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 3 license.

Right-of-way (ROW) land areas are required for all publicly owned transportation roadways representing over 40 million acres within the US alone. These relatively unused land assets could support potential farming land for plants and algae that contain high levels of lipids that could be used in the energy industry as an alternative fuel source. This process would offer many benefits including more efficient use of public land, eliminating mowing maintenance, increasing the bioenergy use in the US, providing visually appealing viewscapes, and helping to naturally reduce localized carbon dioxide. This paper analyzed the feasibility and potential optimization strategies of using this concept in the South-Eastern United States by scaling and comparing many of the benefits and risks associated with the selected lipid sources (soybeans, flax, sunflowers, Tung trees, Chinese tallow tree, and microalgae). Based on this assessment, the most attractive option appears to be growing flax in the winter and sunflowers in the summer with Tung Trees grown year-round as an alternative option. This would maximize lipids output while preserving and enhancing right-of-way land areas.