Roanoke College, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Salem, Virginia, U.S. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is also a member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Roanoke College offers bachelor’s degree programs in such areas as business

Plymouth Company, commercial trading company chartered by the English crown in 1606 to colonize the eastern coast of North America in present-day New England. Its shareholders were merchants of Plymouth, Bristol, and Exeter. Its twin company was the more successful Virginia Company. The Plymouth

Virginia Commonwealth University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. It comprises the College of Humanities and Sciences and 12 other schools, including the School of Medicine on the Medical College of Virginia campus (also in Richmond). The university

Virginia Company, commercial trading company, chartered by King James I of England in April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. Its shareholders were Londoners, and it was distinguished from the Plymouth Company, which was chartered

Virginia Company, commercial trading company, chartered by King James I of England in April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. Its shareholders were Londoners, and it was distinguished from the Plymouth Company, which was chartered

Patrick Henry: At the second Virginia Convention, on March 23, 1775, in St. John’s Church, Richmond, he delivered the speech that assured his fame as one of the great advocates of liberty. Convinced that war with Great Britain was inevitable, he presented strong resolutions for equipping the Virginia militia to…

Mertensia: …the family Boraginaceae, including the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell (M. virginica), a popular spring-blooming garden and wild flower with drooping, bell-shaped, pink flowers that turn blue. The Virginia cowslip is native in moist woods and wet meadows in eastern North America and has smooth, elliptical leaves and reaches approximately…

Virginia creeper, (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), woody vine in the grape family (Vitaceae). It is commonly found in eastern North America and is often grown as a covering vine for walls, fences, and trunks of large trees. Several cultivated varieties, with smaller leaves and shorter tendrils, have

Virginia Declaration of Rights, in U.S. constitutional history, declaration of rights of the citizen adopted June 12, 1776, by the constitutional convention of the colony of Virginia. It was a model for the Bill of Rights added to the U.S. Constitution 15 years later. The Virginia declaration,

white-tailed deer, (Odocoileus virginianus), common American deer of the family Cervidae (order Artiodactyla) that covers a huge range from the Arctic Circle in western Canada to 18 degrees south of the Equator in Peru and Bolivia. The white-tailed deer get its name from the long white hair on the

Virginia Falls, cataract on the South Nahanni River, a tributary of the Liard, in Nahanni National Park (1,840 square miles [4,766 square km]), Northwest Territories, Canada, 76 miles (120 km) east of the Yukon border. Highest in the region, the spectacular falls have a drop of 316 feet (96 m) and

ham: Virginia hams, prized for their sweetness, are cut from razorback hogs fed on peanuts and peaches. They are cured, then smoked over apple and hickory wood fires, and hung to age in the smokehouse. Perhaps the most widely known country hams of the United States…

Janie Porter Barrett: …the school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls.

Roanoke College, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Salem, Virginia, U.S. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is also a member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Roanoke College offers bachelor’s degree programs in such areas as business

Masters and Johnson: …Johnson Institute, Johnson founded the Virginia Johnson Masters Learning Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri. The facility provided print and audio materials to help persons affected by sexual dysfunction to overcome their problems. In 2013 a drama television series titled Masters of Sex debuted on the American cable channel Showtime. The…

Virginia Military Institute (VMI), public institution of higher learning in Lexington, Virginia, U.S. It is a state military college modeled on the U.S. service academies. Students are referred to as cadets; all cadets enroll in U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marine Corps Reserve Officers’ Training

Virginia: Cultural life: The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond was the first state museum of the arts when it was established in 1934. The Barter Theatre was founded by actor Robert Porterfield in 1933 in the tiny southwestern town of Abingdon; its original charge for admission was…

Virginia State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Petersburg, Virginia, U.S. The historically African-American university consists of schools of agriculture, business, liberal arts and education, science and technology, and graduate studies and continuing education.

Virginia State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Petersburg, Virginia, U.S. The historically African-American university consists of schools of agriculture, business, liberal arts and education, science and technology, and graduate studies and continuing education.

Virginia opossum, (Didelphis virginiana), the only marsupial (family Didelphidae, subfamily Didelphinae) found north of Mexico. The Virginia opossum occurs from southern Canada to northern Costa Rica. Populations in western Canada and along the Pacific coast south to northern Baja California,

otter: Conservation and classification: North American river otters (L. canadensis) are still taken as part of the commercial fur trade, but the primary threats to others are the destruction of wetland habitats and pollution. Heavy metals and contaminants such as mercury and PCBs

oyster: …the Pacific coastal waters of North America, grows to about 7.5 cm (3 inches). C. virginica, native to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the West Indies and about 15 cm (6 inches) long, has been introduced into Pacific coastal waters of North America. Up to 50,000,000 eggs may be…

peppergrass: Major species: Virginia peppergrass (L. virginicum), spread throughout North America, sometimes is known as canary grass because its seed stalks are fed to cage birds. Its leaves are used in salads.

Virginia Plan, along with the New Jersey Plan, one of two major proposals for the framework of the United States government presented at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. It was known as the Virginia Plan because it was presented to the convention by delegates of the state of

Virginia Tech, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S. Virginia Tech is a comprehensive, land-grant university, consisting of colleges of agriculture and life sciences, architecture and urban studies, arts and sciences, business, human resources and

Virginia opossum, (Didelphis virginiana), the only marsupial (family Didelphidae, subfamily Didelphinae) found north of Mexico. The Virginia opossum occurs from southern Canada to northern Costa Rica. Populations in western Canada and along the Pacific coast south to northern Baja California,

rail: longirostris), a grayer form; the Virginia rail (R. limicola), reddish brown and about 25 cm (10 inches) in length; and the sora (see crake). The little yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) and the American black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) are too scarce and too small (about 15 cm [6 inches]) to be…

Virginia reel, spirited American country dance for couples. It stems from the rinnce fadha, a pre-Christian Irish dance that evolved into the English dance called the Sir Roger de Coverley. Brought to Virginia by English colonists, the Sir Roger de Coverley in time became the Virginia reel, the

ProCon Debate: Is Artificial Intelligence Good for Society? ProCon Issue in the News: Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, type-p (PSP-P), a form of Atypical Parkinsonism, or “Parkinson’s disease on steroids,” as she described it in September

spring beauty, (species Claytonia virginica), small, succulent, spring-flowering perennial plant of the purslane family (Portulacaceae), native to eastern North America and often planted in moist shady areas of rock gardens. It grows to 30 cm (12 inches) from a globose corm and produces narrow

George Gervin: …first pro season, with the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA)—was the perfect summation of his game: cool, understated, but also cold-blooded in execution and intensity. Gervin was a quietly smooth player and personality who could have been lost in the flashy shuffle of basketball in the 1970s.…

Virginia State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Petersburg, Virginia, U.S. The historically African-American university consists of schools of agriculture, business, liberal arts and education, science and technology, and graduate studies and continuing education.

Virginia State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Petersburg, Virginia, U.S. The historically African-American university consists of schools of agriculture, business, liberal arts and education, science and technology, and graduate studies and continuing education.

Thomas Jefferson: Declaring independence: …were bitterly contested, especially the statute for religious freedom, which was not enacted until 1786. (See primary source documents: An American Education for American Youth, The Education of Women, and The Sphere of Religion.)

stewartia: Silky camellia, or Virginia stewartia (S. malacodendron), a shrub up to 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) high, has white flowers with purple stamens. Another American species is the mountain stewartia, sometimes called mountain camellia (S. ovata), which is also shrubby; it is mostly confined to the…

Virginia Tech, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S. Virginia Tech is a comprehensive, land-grant university, consisting of colleges of agriculture and life sciences, architecture and urban studies, arts and sciences, business, human resources and

Virginia Tech shooting, school shooting at the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus of Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, that left 33 people dead, including the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States. Cho, who was born in South Korea but later moved to the

Richmond: …include Union Theological Seminary (1812), Virginia Union University (1865), Virginia Commonwealth University (formed in 1968 by the merger of Richmond Professional Institute [1917] and Medical College of Virginia [1838]), and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (1972). Among its historic buildings are St. John’s Church (1741), where patriot Patrick Henry delivered…

waterleaf: 5-foot-) tall Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum), with five- to seven-lobed leaves; it is also called Shawnee salad and John’s cabbage in reference to the edible tender young shoots. The large-leaved waterleaf (H. macrophyllum) is similar to the Virginia waterleaf but is rough and hairy and about 60…

wild rye: Virginia wild rye (Elymus virginicus) and Canada wild rye (E. canadensis) are the most widespread North American species. Bottlebrush grass (E. hystrix) is sometimes grown as an ornamental for its unusual bristled flower heads. Quackgrass (E. repens), native to Europe, is often used for erosion…

strawberry: Major species: …North American species include the Virginia wild strawberry (F. virginiana) and the beach, or coastal, strawberry (F. chiloensis).

Second Battle of Bull Run: The Northern Virginia Campaign: John Pope’s newly created Army of Virginia in central Virginia. Until the two Union armies could be combined for a renewed assault upon the Confederate capital of Richmond, it fell upon Pope to defend Washington, D.C., and to engage Confederate forces in the area.

U.S. state flag consisting of a dark blue field (background) with the state seal in the centre.In 1776 the jurist George Wythe probably drew upon a book on Roman antiquities by Joseph Spence when he created the first Virginia state seal. It was made in two sizes and had distinctive designs on the

Mary Virginia Hawes Terhune was an American writer who achieved great success with both her romantic novels and her books and columns of advice for homemakers. Mary Hawes grew up in her hometown of Dennisville, Virginia, and from 1844 in nearby Richmond. She was well educated by private tutors and

University of Virginia, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., on a campus of 1,000 acres (405 hectares) near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Founded by Thomas Jefferson, it was chartered in 1819. Jefferson was aided by Joseph C. Cabell

Penthorum: The ditch, or Virginian, stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides) grows to about 60 cm (2 feet) tall. It has pale greenish yellow flowers and pale green leaves that turn bright orange as they mature. Ditch stonecrop is planted as an ornamental at the edges of pools or in…

Victor Fleming: Early work: …westerns, The Wolf Song and The Virginian, an adaptation of Owen Wister’s popular novel. Although the latter was filmed several times, Fleming’s early talkie remains definitive, thanks to Cooper’s star-making turn as a charismatic ranch foreman and Walter Huston’s portrayal of a cattle rustler.

The Virginian, Western novel by Owen Wister, published in 1902. Its great popularity contributed to the enshrinement of the American cowboy as an icon of American popular culture and a folk ideal. A chivalrous and courageous but mysterious cowboy known only as “the Virginian” works as foreman of a

The Virginian, Western novel by Owen Wister, published in 1902. Its great popularity contributed to the enshrinement of the American cowboy as an icon of American popular culture and a folk ideal. A chivalrous and courageous but mysterious cowboy known only as “the Virginian” works as foreman of a

The Virginians, novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published serially in 24 parts in 1857–59 and as one volume in 1859. A sequel to Henry Esmond, the novel is set, as is much of its precursor, chiefly in colonial Virginia. The Virginians follows the life of the family and descendants of

The Virginians, novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published serially in 24 parts in 1857–59 and as one volume in 1859. A sequel to Henry Esmond, the novel is set, as is much of its precursor, chiefly in colonial Virginia. The Virginians follows the life of the family and descendants of

Virginibus Puerisque, collection of essays by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1881, most of which were first published in The Cornhill Magazine. These whimsical meditations on everyday life earned Stevenson a reputation as a popular philosopher. Modeling his essays on those of William Hazlitt

caricature and cartoon: Other countries: …Italy the brilliant political caricaturist Virginio, who was to the rise of Italian nationalism what Nast had been to the North in the American Civil War; he worked for Il Fischietto of Turin. In 1848 Kladderadatsch started in Berlin. Munich had Fliegende Blätter and Punsch. Punsch was more political than…

Mary: Dogmatic titles: …course of his birth (the virginitas in partu) and the doctrine that she had remained a virgin after his birth and until the end of her life (the virginitas post partum). The Apostles’ Creed appears to teach at least the virginitas in partu when it says “born of the Virgin…

Mary: Dogmatic titles: …end of her life (the virginitas post partum). The Apostles’ Creed appears to teach at least the virginitas in partu when it says “born of the Virgin Mary.” Although this teaching about how Mary gave birth to Jesus occurs for the first time in the 2nd-century apocryphal, or noncanonical, Protevangelium…

celibacy: Types of celibacy: Virginity and celibacy are regarded as assets in the attainment of spiritual goals. Most institutional female celibates are nuns in residential cloisters—though there have been occasional solitary figures, such as the anchoress (female hermit) Dame Julian of Norwich (born 1342).

Virginius affair, (1873), seizure of the Cuban ship Virginius (fraudulently flying the U.S. flag and carrying U.S. registration) by Spanish authorities and the summary execution of 53 of its passengers and crew, among them U.S. and British citizens. Hostilities between the United States and Spain

Chosen Women, in Inca religion, women who lived in temple convents under a vow of chastity. Their duties included the preparation of ritual food, the maintenance of a sacred fire, and the weaving of garments for the emperor and for ritual use. They were under the supervision of matrons called Mama

Anisian Stage, lower of two divisions of the Middle Triassic Series, representing those rocks deposited worldwide during Anisian time (247.2 million to 242 million years ago) in the Triassic Period. The stage name is derived from an area of limestone formations along the Anisus River at

Virgo, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying in the southern sky between Leo and Libra, at about 13 hours right ascension and 2° south declination. The constellation’s brightest star, Spica (Latin for “head of grain,” also called Alpha Virginis), is the 15th brightest star in the sky, with a

M87, giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo whose nucleus contains a black hole, the first ever to be directly imaged. M87 is the most powerful known source of radio energy among the thousands of galactic systems constituting the so-called Virgo Cluster. It is also a powerful X-ray

Virgo cluster, the closest large cluster of galaxies. The Virgo cluster is located at a distance of about 5 × 107 light-years in the direction of the constellation Virgo. More than 2,000 galaxies reside in the Virgo cluster, scattered in various subclusters whose largest concentration (near the

Rome: Piazza di Spagna: …(“Scow”), is fed by the Acqua Vergine, an aqueduct of 19 bce, which escaped Gothic destruction because it was mainly underground and which was repaired in 1447. When the fountain was planned in the early 1600s by Bernini (believed to be Pietro, though some have attributed the work to his…

punctuation: Punctuation in Greek and Latin to 1600: …elevatus are joined by the virgule (/) as an alternative form of light stop. Vernacular literature followed the less formal types of Latin literature; and the printers, as usual, followed the scribes. The first printed texts of the Bible and the liturgy are, as a rule, carefully punctuated on the…

mystery religion: Literature: …mystery community known as the viri novi (“the new men”). Arnobius seems to have lived among them in North Africa for a time before his conversion to Christianity. They had a religious doctrine of the soul, with marked affinities to the teachings of the Neoplatonic thinkers Plotinus and Porphyry.

gas: Equation of state: virial coefficients and depend only on the temperature and the particular gas. The virtue of this equation is that there is a rigorous connection between the virial coefficients and intermolecular forces, and experimental values of B(T) were an early source (and still a useful one)…

gas: Equation of state: …of 1/v, known as the virial equation of state:where B(T), C(T), . . . are called the second, third, . . . virial coefficients and depend only on the temperature and the particular gas. The virtue of this equation is that there is a rigorous connection between the virial coefficients…

Portugal: Pre-Roman, Roman, Germanic, and Muslim periods: …under the brilliant leadership of Viriathus; however, after Viriathus was assassinated about 140 bce, Decius Junius Brutus led a Roman force northward through central Portugal, crossed the Douro River, and subdued the Gallaeci. Julius Caesar governed the territory for a time. In 25 bce Caesar Augustus founded Augusta Emerita (Mérida

Viridiana, Spanish dramatic film, released in 1961, that is widely considered one of director Luis Buñuel’s finest and most controversial works. Sharply critical of the Roman Catholic Church, it was banned in Spain and condemned by the Vatican. The story follows the tumultuous life of a young

Budapest: The modern city: …the capital (the so-called “virilists”), while the other half of the council’s membership was elected from the rest of the electorate, based on a rather narrow franchise. Property owners thus played an important role in the government of the city: aristocrats, grain and wine merchants, German burghers, a few…

anabolic steroid: It also leads to virilization—the development of masculine traits, including increased libido and deepening of the voice.

South American nomad: Composite bands: …in the male line) and patrilocal (a wife resided with her husband’s lineage and band).

virion, an entire virus particle, consisting of an outer protein shell called a capsid and an inner core of nucleic acid (either ribonucleic or deoxyribonucleic acid—RNA or DNA). The core confers infectivity, and the capsid provides specificity to the virus. In some virions the capsid is further

viroid, an infectious particle smaller than any of the known viruses, an agent of certain plant diseases. The particle consists only of an extremely small circular RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecule, lacking the protein coat of a virus. Viroids appear to be transmitted mechanically from one cell to

Myristicaceae: …Central American tree known as Virola guatemalense produces seeds used in flavouring and in the manufacture of candles; the whorled young branches are utilized as eggbeaters. Many of the approximately 38 species of the genus Virola provide lumber for local use.

Suriname: Plant and animal life: The baboen (Virola surinamensis), which grows in the coastal area, is used to make plywood. The kapok (Ceiba pentandra) reaches a height of more than 150 feet (45 metres). The Central Suriname Nature Reserve, covering nearly 3,950,000 acres (1,600,000 hectares), was established in June 1998 in…

virology, branch of microbiology that deals with the study of viruses. Although diseases caused by viruses have been known since the 1700s and cures for many were (somewhat later) effected, the causative agent was not closely examined until 1892, when a Russian bacteriologist, D. Ivanovski,

Viceroyalty of Peru, the second of the four viceroyalties that Spain created to govern its domains in the Americas. Established in 1543, the viceroyalty initially included all of South America under Spanish control except for the coast of what is now Venezuela. It later lost jurisdiction (with the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the final of the four viceroyalties that Spain created during its colonization of Central and South America. Including the territory now comprising Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, the new viceroyalty (established in 1776) controlled an area previously

Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was a Finnish biochemist whose investigations directed toward improving the production and storage of protein-rich green fodder, vitally important to regions characterized by long, severe winters, brought him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1945. As a chemistry instructor

Würzburg, city, northwestern Bavaria Land (state), south-central Germany. It lies along and is an inland port of the canalized Main River, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The site of a Celtic settlement, it was first mentioned as Virteburch in 704. A bishopric was

Võrtsjärv, lake (järv) in south-central Estonia, with an area of about 110 square miles (280 square km). Võrtsjärv forms part of the 124-mile (200-km) course of the Ema River (German: Embach), which enters the lake from the south and drains it toward the north and east into Lake Peipus on the

Italian literature: Political, historical, biographical, and moral literature: …principles as the concepts of virtù (“individual initiative”) and fortuna (“chance”). A man’s ability to control his destiny through the exercise of virtù is contested by forces beyond his control, summed up in the concept of fortuna. His famous treatise Il principe (The Prince), composed in 1513, in which he…

electronic fighting game: Three-dimensional fighting games: …goes to Sega’s arcade console Virtua Fighter (1993). Virtua Fighter was noteworthy for its realistic depiction of combat, with various playable characters that specialized in different schools of martial arts. Although Namco Limited’s Tekken (1994– ) came later, it has lasted through numerous sequels and been ported to most home…

Digital Equipment Corporation: In 1978 Digital introduced the VAX (Virtual Address eXtension) computer, arguably the most successful minicomputer in history. The VAX line of systems ranged from low-cost desktop workstations to high-end computers that challenged IBM’s most powerful mainframes. Its operating system, known as VMS (Virtual Memory System), became popular among software developers,…

chatbot: Later developments: Rather, the virtual assistants were designed to follow voice commands to perform simple tasks such as searching for information online, setting alarms, sending text messages, playing music, and adding events to calendars. Both virtual assistants proved to be immensely popular and brought chatbot technology into mainstream use.

baseball: Fantasy baseball: The term fantasy baseball was introduced to describe the Internet-based virtual baseball game. But it also can be loosely construed to mean a number of games that permit the fan to play either a virtual game or a virtual season of baseball. In…

virtual community, a group of people, who may or may not meet one another face to face, who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of digital networks. The first use of the term virtual community appeared in a article by Gene Youngblood written in 1984 but published in 1986 about Electronic

mechanics: The principle of virtual work: …of virtual work, any infinitesimal virtual displacement in configuration space, consistent with the constraints, requires no work. A virtual displacement means an instantaneous change in coordinates (a real displacement would require finite time during which particles might move and forces might change). To express the principle, label the generalized coordinates…

mechanics: The principle of virtual work: A special class of problems in mechanics involves systems in equilibrium. The problem is to find the configuration of the system, subject to whatever constraints there may be, when all forces are balanced. The body or system will be at rest (in the…

online gaming: Birth of virtual economies: law? Another issue that game publishers have had to face is the rise of secondary economies outside their game worlds. Ultima Online designers were the first to observe this phenomenon at work when a castle in their game world sold for several thousand dollars…

virtual reality: Entertainment: …as founding director of the Virtual Environment Workstation (VIEW) project. The VIEW project put together a package of objectives that summarized previous work on artificial environments, ranging from creation of multisensory and immersive “virtual environment workstations” to telepresence and teleoperation applications. Influenced by a range of prior projects that included…

optical image: …kinds of images, real and virtual. In a real image the light rays actually are brought to a focus at the image position, and the real image may be made visible on a screen—e.g., a sheet of paper—whereas a virtual image cannot. Examples of real images are those made by…

library: The changing role of libraries: Although the development of digital libraries means that people do not have to go to a building for some kinds of information, users still need help to locate the information they want. In a traditional library building, a user has access to a catalog that will help locate a…

computer memory: Memory hierarchy: …systems spans these levels with virtual memory, a system that provides programs with large address spaces (addressable memory), which may exceed the actual RAM in the computer. Virtual memory gives each program a portion of main memory and stores the rest of its code and data on a hard disk,…

virtual museum, a collection of digitally recorded images, sound files, text documents, and other data of historical, scientific, or cultural interest that are accessed through electronic media. A virtual museum does not house actual objects and therefore lacks the permanence and unique qualities

quantum electrodynamics: These photons are “virtual”; that is, they cannot be seen or detected in any way because their existence violates the conservation of energy and momentum. The photon exchange is merely the “force” of the interaction, because interacting particles change their speed and direction of travel as they release…

quantum electrodynamics: These photons are “virtual”; that is, they cannot be seen or detected in any way because their existence violates the conservation of energy and momentum. The photon exchange is merely the “force” of the interaction, because interacting particles change their speed and direction of travel as they release…

VPN, a private computer network deployed over a public telecommunications network, such as the Internet. A VPN typically includes one or more connected corporate intranets, or local area networks (LANs), which users at remote locations can access using a password authentication system. Data

virtual reality (VR), the use of computer modeling and simulation that enables a person to interact with an artificial three-dimensional (3-D) visual or other sensory environment. VR applications immerse the user in a computer-generated environment that simulates reality through the use of