Deller James Ferreira

Virtual Environment Manipulated by Recognition of Poses Using Kinect: A Study to Help Blind Locomotion in Unfamiliar Surroundings

This paper proposes a method to aid blind persons in skill development to walk in unfamiliar environments. The method aims to use the human ability in construct of spatial cognitive maps. Thus, we developed a system that uses the Virtual Reality and Kinect®. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional virtual environments modeling are allowed. It is possible to reproduce real environments such as schools, universities and other places of interest. The interaction with the virtual environment works with pose recognition. Recognized poses are interpreted as an action such as left and right turn or walk. Experiments were carried out to verify the pose recognition algorithms and to identify the optimal parameters. The results were satisfactory and demonstrated that the proposed method can be quite promising. Thus, it can be indicated as an aid to skill development of locomotion in real environments.

Braille Text Entry on Smartphones: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Nowadays, due to touchscreen, mobile devices have become much more dynamic than in the past. However, due the same reason, those devices are less accessible for blind people. It is expected that in 2018, over half of mobile phone users will have a smartphone, therefore researches about mobile accessibility are very important. So, the aim of this systematic review is to cooperate with new research about methods for braille text entry on smartphones. The systematic searches in 5 databases, resulted in 11 papers that answered the research questions that grounded this work.

Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm for Competency-Based Selection of Auditing Teams

To perform an auditing it is necessary to select auditors with certain competences in a given knowledge area. In this work, we present a multi-objective genetic algorithm to select the best auditors to perform a certain auditing. The algorithm involves the competence allocation problem under three different point of views: indispensable competences, dependencies among competences, and auditing budget boundary. We performed a case study where the competence allocation problem is analysed under a combinatorial perspective. The results show that the genetic algorithm proposed reaches better results comparing to random selection method.

Comparing sighted and blind users task performance in responsive and non-responsive web design

This article highlights the necessity to go beyond accessibility guidelines in interactive web design, and more specifically in new web trends, as well as the importance of investigations concerning universal web design usability for blind users. In this work, we compared the task performance of blind and sighted users in responsive and non-responsive web design. The results comparing task performance in responsive and non-responsive Web sites indicate that when responsive web design involves deep structures with fewer choices and more levels, it might be considered a design strategy that does not work well for both sighted and blind user populations, showing that a reasonable criterion that should be considered is to design Web sites with good usability for blind as well as sighted users.

Robotics and programming: Attracting girls to technology

This paper presents the Metabotix project: Teaching Robotics and Programming for girls, which is being developed since 2014 at Instituto Federal de Goiás - Campus Luziânia, using free/open hardware and software, and recyclable electronic materials. The project counts on interdisciplinary methodology for learning robotics. Students apply the knowledge acquired in high school classes aiming to grow girls interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) areas.

A hybrid genetic algorithm for group formation at workplace

Corporate university (CO) become a trend in organizations. However, functional characteristics are little explored by CO for boosting knowledge creation. One of them is functional diversity that has been pointed as a factor to increase innovation, contributing for the development of clear strategies and quick responses to changes at workplace. On the other hand, an appropriate distribution of roles helps to promote individual responsibility and group cohesion. It also contributes to the strengthening of positive interdependence of group members. These aspects are fundamental to the development of cooperative work. In this work, we propose a model for group formation for learning approaching dichotomous functional roles and preferred roles in order to improve the group performance into the courses offered by CO at Court of Justice of Goiás (CJG). From the proposed model, we constructed three group formation algorithms. The first algorithm forms groups randomly (AA). The second is a canonical genetic algorithm (CGA). The third is a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA). After, we performed a comparative analysis of the results reached by the three algorithms. We observed that the HGA achieves superior results than the CGA and AA.

Locomotion Interface with Natural Interaction for Assisting Mobility of Visually Impaired

For individuals who are visually impaired (VIP), navigation requires the construction of a cognitive spatial map of ones surrounding environment. The proposed system was developed using techniques of Virtual Reality and Natural Interaction to assist the construction of cognitive spatial map and consequently the mobility of visually impaired (VIP). The system allows the modeling of two-dimensional or three-dimensional virtual environments. Is it possible to reproduce any places of interest. The interaction with the virtual environment is based on the recognition of poses, which are interpreted as actions of walking, turning left or right, or groping, and sound responses. Tests with VIPs were performed and the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the system, as well as positive feedback from participants who have developed cognitive map of the navigated environment. Thus, it may be indicated in aid in the work of Orientation and Mobility (OM), and thus contribute to greater social inclusion of those people.

Facilitation of Creativity in Programming

This paper involves facilitation of creativity in programming and presents results of a successful computer science experiment, where the teacher boosts learning of programming skills by means of the students involvement in collaborative and creative dimensions of a dialogic framework. The dialogic framework presented here embraces dialogic processes organized in seven collaborative and creative dimensions that allow students to develop both adaptive and innovative creativity in programming.