Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques for footwear

The use of 3D imaging techniques has been early adopted in the footwear industry. In particular, 3D imaging could be used to aid commerce and improve the quality and sales of shoes. Footwear customization is an added value aimed not only to improve product quality, but also consumer comfort. Moreover, customisation implies a new business model that avoids the competition of mass production coming from new manufacturers settled mainly in Asian countries. However, footwear customisation implies a significant effort at different levels. In manufacturing, rapid and virtual prototyping is required; indeed the prototype is intended to become the final product. The whole design procedure must be validated using exclusively virtual techniques to ensure the feasibility of this process, since physical prototypes should be avoided. With regard to commerce, it would be desirable for the consumer to choose any model of shoes from a large 3D database and be able to try them on looking at a magic mirror. This would probably reduce costs and increase sales, since shops would not require storing every shoe model and the process of trying several models on would be easier and faster for the consumer. In this paper, new advances in 3D techniques coming from experience in cinema, TV and games are successfully applied to footwear. Firstly, the characteristics of a high-quality stereoscopic vision system for footwear are presented. Secondly, a system for the interaction with virtual footwear models based on 3D gloves is detailed. Finally, an augmented reality system (magic mirror) is presented, which is implemented with low-cost computational elements that allow a hypothetical customer to check in real time the goodness of a given virtual footwear model from an aesthetical point of view.

Footwear bio-modelling: An industrial approach

There is a growing need within the footwear sector to customise the design of the last from which a specific footwear style is to be produced. This customisation is necessary for user comfort and health reasons, as the user needs to wear a suitable shoe. For this purpose, a relationship must be established between the user foot and the last with which the style will be made; up until now, no model has existed that integrates both elements. On the one hand, traditional customised footwear manufacturing techniques are based on purely artisanal procedures which make the process arduous and complex; on the other hand, geometric models proposed by different authors present the impossibility of implementing them in an industrial environment with limited resources for the acquisition of morphometric and structural data for the foot, apart from the fact that they do not prove to be sufficiently accurate given the non-similarity of the foot and last. In this paper, two interrelated geometric models are defined, the first, a bio-deformable foot model and the second, a deformable last model. The experiments completed show the goodness of the model, with it obtaining satisfactory results in terms of comfort, efficiency and precision, which make it viable for use in the sector.

A new surface joining technique for the design of shoe lasts

The footwear industry is a traditional craft sector, where technological advances are difficult to implement owing to the complexity of the processes being carried out, and the level of precision demanded by most of them. The shoe last joining operation is one clear example, where two halves from different lasts are put together, following a specifically traditional process, to create a new one. Existing surface joining techniques analysed in this paper are not well adapted to shoe last design and production processes, which makes their implementation in the industry difficult. This paper presents an alternative surface joining technique, inspired by the traditional work of lastmakers. This way, lastmakers will be able to easily adapt to the new tool and make the most out of their know-how. The technique is based on the use of curve networks that are created on the surfaces to be joined, instead of using discrete data. Finally, a series of joining tests are presented, in which real lasts were successfully joined using a commercial last design software. The method has shown to be valid, efficient, and feasible within the sector.

Um enfermeiro presidente da República. Você sabia?

Descreve a vida de Samora Machel, um enfermeiro moçambicano, que liderou guerrilhas até obter a independência e criar a República de Moçambique. Narrar sua história de vida e seu papel na saúde de seu país, tem por objetivo mostrar que a política pode ser um meio para que outros enfermeiros, em outros países, possam também seguir por esse caminho para o beneficio de toda uma população e através do exercício da liderança, também contribuir para melhorar a saúde e as condições de vida das comunidades. Além de lutar contra o racismo, a discriminação, o analfabetismo, a pobreza e a seca durante mais de dez anos em seu governo, Samora Machel teve que lutar internamente contra forças políticas oponentes. De qualquer modo, ele se tornou um exemplo em seu país onde é reverenciado e venerado como herói nacional.

Diferencias culturales en deberes y derechos entre los docentes de Infantil-Primaria y Secundaria

El trabajo analiza las diferencias culturales entre el profesorado de Infantil-Primaria y Secundaria a la luz de sus deberes y derechos. Han participado 394 docentes de toda España de educación Infantil, Primaria y Secundaria, elegidos al azar, contestando a un cuestionario enviado por correo postal a los centros seleccionados aleatoriamente. Se utiliza como instrumento el cuestionario “Deberes y derechos del profesorado en la comunidad educativa” y se confirma la hipótesis: existen diferencias culturales docentes significativas que nos permiten establecer distintas subculturas.

Valoración de los deberes y derechos docentes y de la comunidad educativa por las familias

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal conocer el grado de aceptación que tienen los deberes y derechos docentes y de la comunidad educativa entre las madres y padres que tienen hijos escolarizados en institutos y colegios. Se trata de una investigación descriptiva. Como instrumento de evaluación se ha empleado el cuestionario “Deberes y derechos del profesorado en la comunidad educativa”. En los resultados se demuestra que las madres y los padres consideran muy importantes los deberes y derechos presentados, sin que se observen diferencias significativas en función de la titularidad de los centros educativos, el cargo que ostentan en la asociación, la edad o el género de los participantes.

Percepciones de familias y profesorado de Educación Primaria y Secundaria sobre los deberes y derechos docentes y posibilidades de colaboración

Los autores realizan una investigación descriptiva para comprobar si existen diferencias significativas en las percepciones que madres, padres y profesorado tienen de los deberes y derechos docentes y las posibilidades de colaboración. En la recolección de datos se utiliza el cuestionario “Deberes y derechos del profesorado en la comunidad educativa”. Participan 394 docentes y 348 madres y padres de alumnos de toda España. Los resultados corroboran la hipótesis en Educación Primaria pero no en Secundaria, donde se deben introducir cambios sustanciales para que los institutos puedan beneficiarse de la colaboración de madres y padres. Se concluye que los deberes y derechos docentes pueden servir para promover la colaboración entre la escuela y las familias y ayudar a conseguir el equilibrio entre el derecho de los padres a participar y la autonomía de los docentes como profesionales.