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Publications

Publications by HumanISE

2021

Visualization of Scientific Phenomena for Education

Authors
Rudenko, R; Reis, A; Sousa, J; Barroso, J;

Publication
Communications in Computer and Information Science

Abstract
Visualization can be defined as a technique that allows us to obtain the perception of an object/event in a clear and consistent way. The use of visualization in education is a key factor to explain complex information in a clear way. Therefore, it is essential to have tools capable of visualizing various types of data. An example of a data type is the weather forecast data, which includes various atmospheric data for a given place, and allows the simulation of the atmospheric evolution. It is used for decision making in many areas, such as, agriculture, fishing, tourism, etc. Thus, it is beneficial to demonstrate the usefulness of this type of visualization to better understand the meteorological phenomena, as well as to teach scientific visualization techniques in order to enable access to information that otherwise can only be interpreted by qualified people. In this article it will be discussed the scientific visualization and its benefits to the area of meteorology, and it will be presented a case study of data visualization using the ParaView tools for meteorological data visualization and analysis. ParaView is a multiplatform tool based on the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) that provides features to process, analyze, and visualize various types of data. This study aims to present a tool for scientific visualization and to demonstrate its applications and usefulness for education. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

2021

PLAY for LEARNING: Serious Games to Assist Learning of Basic Didactic Concepts: A Pilot Study

Authors
Rocha, T; Barroso, J;

Publication
HCI in Games: Serious and Immersive Games - Third International Conference, HCI-Games 2021, Held as Part of the 23rd HCI International Conference, HCII 2021, Virtual Event, July 24-29, 2021, Proceedings, Part II

Abstract
In this paper, the study of the design and implementation of a gamebased application for learning new basic concepts and/or re-learning these concepts within a cognitive rehabilitation perspective, is presented. Specifically, in this first version, the topics considered were: colours, animals, objects, and vehicles. The solution was developed to be usable and accessible to two user groups, children with special education needs and seniors in need of cognitive training and/or rehabilitation. The two main goals are: (1) to develop a game-based interface for the two specific user groups – children with special educational needs and seniors; (2) and, assess user engagement and acceptance. To achieve the first goal a universal design methodology was followed. For the later, we performed a preliminary usability assessment. Specifically, a Cognitive Walkthrough reinforced with a post-test semi-structured interviews was conducted. Overall results showed a good user engagement and acceptance. The gamebased solution seemed to facilitated children’ apprenticeship of basic contents and the helped in the cognitive rehabilitation by the seniors. The preliminary results indicated the solution could be used as an assistive tool, in a special education or in rehabilitation contexts, with tutors, teachers or clinicians; but also, in a more without obstruction and autonomous interaction, at home. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.

2021

SAR.IoT: Secured Augmented Reality for IoT Devices Management

Authors
Fuentes, D; Correia, L; Costa, N; Reis, A; Barroso, J; Pereira, A;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
Currently, solutions based on the Internet of Things (IoT) concept are increasingly being adopted in several fields, namely, industry, agriculture, and home automation. The costs associated with this type of equipment is reasonably small, as IoT devices usually do not have output peripherals to display information about their status (e.g., a screen or a printer), although they may have informative LEDs, which is sometimes insufficient. For most IoT devices, the price of a minimalist display, to output and display the device's running status (i.e., what the device is doing), might cost much more than the actual IoT device. Occasionally, it might become necessary to visualize the IoT device output, making it necessary to find solutions to show the hardware output information in real time, without requiring extra equipment, only what the administrator usually has with them. In order to solve the above, a technological solution that allows for the visualization of IoT device information in actual time, using augmented reality and a simple smartphone, was developed and analyzed. In addition, the system created integrates a security layer, at the level of AR, to secure the shown data from unwanted eyes. The results of the tests carried out allowed us to validate the operation of the solution when accessing the information of the IoT devices, verify the operation of the security layer in AR, analyze the interaction between smartphones, the platform, and the devices, and check which AR markers are most optimized for this use case. This work results in a secure augmented reality solution, which can be used with a simple smartphone, to monitor/manage IoT devices in industrial, laboratory or research environments.

2021

Usability of Smartbands by the Elderly Population in the Context of Ambient Assisted Living Applications

Authors
Correia, L; Fuentes, D; Ribeiro, J; Costa, N; Reis, A; Rabadao, C; Barroso, J; Pereira, A;

Publication
ELECTRONICS

Abstract
Nowadays, the Portuguese population is aging at a fast pace. The situation is more severe in the interior regions of the country, where the rural areas have few people and have been constantly losing population; these are mostly elderly who, in some cases, live socially isolated. They are also often deprived of some types of social, health and technological services. One of the current challenges with respect to the elderly is that of improving the quality of life for those who still have some autonomy and live in their own residences so that they may continue living autonomously, while receiving the assistance of some exterior monitoring and supporting services. The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm demonstrates great potential for creating technological solutions in this area as it aims to seamlessly integrate information technology with the daily lives of people. In this context, it is necessary to develop services that monitor the activity and health of the elderly in real time and alert caregivers or other family members in the case of an unusual event or behaviour. It is crucial that the technological system is able to collect data in a nonintrusive manner and without requiring much interaction with the elderly. Smartband devices are very good candidates for this purpose and, therefore, this work proposes assessing the level of acceptance of the usage of a smartbands by senior users in their daily activities. By using the definition of an architecture and the development of a prototype, it was possible to test the level of acceptance of smartbands by a sample of the elderly population-with surprising results from both the elderly and the caregivers-which constitutes an important contribution to the research field of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). The evaluation showed that most users did not feel that the smartband was intrusive to their daily tasks and even considered using it in the future, while caregivers considered that the platform was very intuitive.

2021

IndoorCare: Low-Cost Elderly Activity Monitoring System through Image Processing

Authors
Fuentes, D; Correia, L; Costa, N; Reis, A; Ribeiro, J; Rabadao, C; Barroso, J; Pereira, A;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
The Portuguese population is aging at an increasing rate, which introduces new problems, particularly in rural areas, where the population is small and widely spread throughout the territory. These people, mostly elderly, have low income and are often isolated and socially excluded. This work researches and proposes an affordable Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)-based solution to monitor the activities of elderly individuals, inside their homes, in a pervasive and non-intrusive way, while preserving their privacy. The solution uses a set of low-cost IoT sensor devices, computer vision algorithms and reasoning rules, to acquire data and recognize the activities performed by a subject inside a home. A conceptual architecture and a functional prototype were developed, the prototype being successfully tested in an environment similar to a real case scenario. The system and the underlying concept can be used as a building block for remote and distributed elderly care services, in which the elderly live autonomously in their homes, but have the attention of a caregiver when needed.

2021

Serious Games for seniors: Learning safe behaviors on the web Position paper

Authors
Bernardino, I; Baptista, RJV; de Almeida, JMEB; Sao Mamede, JHP;

Publication
PROCEEDINGS OF 2021 16TH IBERIAN CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES (CISTI'2021)

Abstract
In a modern society, seniors want to be a part of the digital world and the research in progress seeks to present whether through Serious Games can help their learning process and understanding of cybersecurity when online browsing, namely, deciding which actions to make when facing an eminent threat. this position paper aims to presents a new research on how Serious Games can help seniors to become more aware in the cybersecurity theme and how to be more careful when search the web. In this research the methodology apply is the Action Research, by identifying the problem - lack of knowledge that seniors have on the online threats and promoting an action - the Serious Game played to teach and motivate the senior to become safer online.

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