Treino prévio reduz o tempo de execução de tarefas visuo-espaciais em ambiente virtual

Objective. To evaluate the influence of previous adaptation to different computational environments in visuo-spacial tasks performance of healthy individuals. Method. Healthy volunteers (n = 30), 15 male, mean age 25.3 ± 3.3 years, were divided in three groups: the first group, considered control, was not adapted to the proposed environments; the second group was adapted to a closed environment (stable and expected), and the third group was adapted to an open environment A (unexpected). The proposed task was to go through two open environments B and C (maze). The dependent variables Time and Error were considered for the analysis. Results. It was observed that during the adaptation phase, in the Time variable, the groups presented a progressive improvement in the performance to each task (p = 0.0036). The group adapted in the A open environment, showed a tendency to be faster in the execution of B and C open environments tasks, than the group adapted in the closed environment (p = 0.068). Conclusion. The study suggests that subjects adapted to visuo-spacial tasks execution involving unknown and no guided situations, present a tendency to a better time performance in these tasks when compared to subjects adapted in fixed and guided situations.

Mutual occlusion between real and virtual elements in Augmented Reality based on fiducial markers

Augmented Reality (AR) systems which use optical tracking with fiducial marker for registration have had an important role in popularizing this technology, since only a personal computer with a conventional webcam is required. However, in most these applications, the virtual elements are shown only in the foreground a real element does not occlude a virtual one. The method presented enables AR environments based on fiducial markers to support mutual occlusion between a real element and many virtual ones, according to the elements position (depth) in the environment. © 2012 IEEE.

Estimação da porcentagem de flúor em alumina fluoretada proveniente de uma planta de tratamento de gases por meio de um sensor virtual neural

As indústrias têm buscado constantemente reduzir gastos operacionais, visando o aumento do lucro e da competitividade. Para alcançar essa meta, são necessários, dentre outros fatores, o projeto e a implantação de novas ferramentas que permitam o acesso às informações relevantes do processo de forma precisa, eficiente e barata. Os sensores virtuais têm sido aplicados cada vez mais nas indústrias. Por ser flexível, ele pode ser adaptado a qualquer tipo de medição, promovendo uma redução de custos operacionais sem comprometer, e em alguns casos até melhorar, a qualidade da informação gerada. Como estão totalmente baseados em software, não estão sujeitos a danos físicos como os sensores reais, além de permitirem uma melhor adaptação a ambientes hostis e de difícil acesso. A razão do sucesso destes tipos de sensores é a utilização de técnicas de inteligência computacional, as quais têm sido usadas na modelagem de vários processos não lineares altamente complexos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo estimar a qualidade da alumina fluoretada proveniente de uma Planta de Tratamento de Gases (PTG), a qual é resultado da adsorção de gases poluentes em alumina virgem, via sensor virtual. O modelo que emula o comportamento de um sensor de qualidade de alumina foi criado através da técnica de inteligência computacional conhecida como Rede Neural Artificial. As motivações deste trabalho consistem em: realizar simulações virtuais, sem comprometer o funcionamento da PTG; tomar decisões mais precisas e não baseada somente na experiência do operador; diagnosticar potenciais problemas, antes que esses interfiram na qualidade da alumina fluoretada; manter o funcionamento do forno de redução de alumínio dentro da normalidade, pois a produção de alumina de baixa qualidade afeta a reação de quebra da molécula que contém este metal. Os benefícios que este projeto trará consistem em: aumentar a eficiência da PTG, produzindo alumina fluoretada de alta qualidade e emitindo menos gases poluentes na atmosfera, além de aumentar o tempo de vida útil do forno de redução.

A formação inicial do professor de línguas no e para o contexto virtual e a construção de comunidades de prática

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Interação de crenças em contexto colaborativo virtual de aprendizagem de línguas

This article mainly aims at addressing issues of the complexity and dynamics of beliefs in collaborative contexts for language teaching and learning, such as Teletandem. On the assumption that beliefs are dynamic and can be (re)signified, we present some of the results of a research about the interaction of beliefs of two Teletandem partners, a Brazilian and an Italian undergraduate student, addressing moments of convergence and divergence, as well as their possible origins and (re)significations from lived experiences. The results show how the Teletandem context can become a field for conflicts and clashes of beliefs and how the mediation as well as the relationship between the participants becomes essential for the conduction of language learning in collaborative environments.

Information technology as a technical resource for the memories: memories of UNATI-Marília in the virtual environment

UNATI (Open University of the Third Age), UNESP, Marília campus, has offered subsidies for the development of this work aimed at researching the existing relationships between information mediation processes and technological devices, especially computers, assuming that reading practices and textual construction in online environments could help the “third age” population to have access to these devices, thus promoting digital inclusion in this group. Mediation was presented as an interventionist action that, by introducing an intermediate element in the learning process, causes a rupture in the ways of living and personal digital inclusion processes hitherto experienced. In the context of a workshop, we found out that there is a physical relationship between subjects and technological supports and such a contact proved to be necessary, considering that handling a computer required knowledge of procedures, thus furthering a logic of use. It turned out to be necessary to develop actions that would enable the handling of a computer so as to bring about acceptance of these supports. Accordingly, activities were developed so as to articulate reminiscent processes, memories of older adults, the writing down of such memories and the creation of a blog to bring enhanced visibility to the content produced by older people. Such actions have shown that remembering, writing down and posting can reshape not only social relations but somehow significantly promote digital inclusion among older adults.

Educação a distância na sociedade da informação: reflexões acerca dos processos de comunicação, ensino e aprendizagem na sala de aula virtual

Information and communication technologies (ICT) pervade the daily lives of people affecting relations and social subsystems. Education is not unrelated to this process and in this scenario the distance education (EaD). Considering as a starting point the information society and its characteristics, the objective of this paper was to analyze the relationship between the new information and communication technologies, teaching and learning in the virtual classroom, seeking to understand what is the design of teaching and learning inherent in the current generation of EaD. Thus, by means of analytical, descriptive and exploratory research, bibliographic and qualitative approach oriented, it was concluded that ICT has a very important role in the context of EaD, allowing the creation of interactive virtual learning environments that enable communication between teachers, tutors and students, making possible the Exchange and sharing of key information on the teaching and learning process.

Design, implementation and evaluation of a virtual laboratory for Computer Engineering Education

Broad consensus has been reached within the Education and Cognitive Psychology research communities on the need to center the learning process on experimentation and concrete application of knowledge, rather than on a bare transfer of notions. Several advantages arise from this educational approach, ranging from the reinforce of students learning, to the increased opportunity for a student to gain greater insight into the studied topics, up to the possibility for learners to acquire practical skills and long-lasting proficiency. This is especially true in Engineering education, where integrating conceptual knowledge and practical skills assumes a strategic importance. In this scenario, learners are called to play a primary role. They are actively involved in the construction of their own knowledge, instead of passively receiving it. As a result, traditional, teacher-centered learning environments should be replaced by novel learner-centered solutions. Information and Communication Technologies enable the development of innovative solutions that provide suitable answers to the need for the availability of experimentation supports in educational context. Virtual Laboratories, Adaptive Web-Based Educational Systems and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments can significantly foster different learner-centered instructional strategies, offering the opportunity to enhance personalization, individualization and cooperation. More specifically, they allow students to explore different kinds of materials, to access and compare several information sources, to face real or realistic problems and to work on authentic and multi-facet case studies. In addition, they encourage cooperation among peers and provide support through coached and scaffolded activities aimed at fostering reflection and meta-cognitive reasoning. This dissertation will guide readers within this research field, presenting both the theoretical and applicative results of a research aimed at designing an open, flexible, learner-centered virtual lab for supporting students in learning Information Security.

Virtual sensing technology applied to a swarm of autonomous robots.

This thesis proposes a novel technology in the field of swarm robotics that allows a swarm of robots to sense a virtual environment through virtual sensors. Virtual sensing is a desirable and helpful technology in swarm robotics research activity, because it allows the researchers to efficiently and quickly perform experiments otherwise more expensive and time consuming, or even impossible. In particular, we envision two useful applications for virtual sensing technology. On the one hand, it is possible to prototype and foresee the effects of a new sensor on a robot swarm, before producing it. On the other hand, thanks to this technology it is possible to study the behaviour of robots operating in environments that are not easily reproducible inside a lab for safety reasons or just because physically infeasible. The use of virtual sensing technology for sensor prototyping aims to foresee the behaviour of the swarm enhanced with new or more powerful sensors, without producing the hardware. Sensor prototyping can be used to tune a new sensor or perform performance comparison tests between alternative types of sensors. This kind of prototyping experiments can be performed through the presented tool, that allows to rapidly develop and test software virtual sensors of different typologies and quality, emulating the behaviour of several hardware real sensors. By investigating on which sensors is better to invest, a researcher can minimize the sensors’ production cost while achieving a given swarm performance. Through augmented reality, it is possible to test the performance of the swarm in a desired virtual environment that cannot be set into the lab for physical, logistic or economical reasons. The virtual environment is sensed by the robots through properly designed virtual sensors. Virtual sensing technology allows a researcher to quickly carry out real robots experiment in challenging scenarios without all the required hardware and environment.

MHP Oriented Interactive Augmented Reality System for Sports Broadcasting Environments

Television and movie images have been altered ever since it was technically possible. Nowadays embedding advertisements, or incorporating text and graphics in TV scenes, are common practice, but they can not be considered as integrated part of the scene. The introduction of new services for interactive augmented television is discussed in this paper. We analyse the main aspects related with the whole chain of augmented reality production. Interactivity is one of the most important added values of the digital television: This paper aims to break the model where all TV viewers receive the same final image. Thus, we introduce and discuss the new concept of interactive augmented television, i. e. real time composition of video and computer graphics - e.g. a real scene and freely selectable images or spatial rendered objects - edited and customized by the end user within the context of the user's set top box and TV receiver.

Spatial audition in a static virtual environment : the role of auditory-visual interaction

The integration of the auditory modality in virtual reality environments is known to promote the sensations of immersion and presence. However it is also known from psychophysics studies that auditory-visual interaction obey to complex rules and that multisensory conflicts may disrupt the adhesion of the participant to the presented virtual scene. It is thus important to measure the accuracy of the auditory spatial cues reproduced by the auditory display and their consistency with the spatial visual cues. This study evaluates auditory localization performances under various unimodal and auditory-visual bimodal conditions in a virtual reality (VR) setup using a stereoscopic display and binaural reproduction over headphones in static conditions. The auditory localization performances observed in the present study are in line with those reported in real conditions, suggesting that VR gives rise to consistent auditory and visual spatial cues. These results validate the use of VR for future psychophysics experiments with auditory and visual stimuli. They also emphasize the importance of a spatially accurate auditory and visual rendering for VR setups.

Language Learning in 3D Virtual World

Second Life (SL) is an ideal platform for language learning. It is called a Multi-User Virtual Environment, where users can have varieties of learning experiences in life-like environments. Numerous attempts have been made to use SL as a platform for language teaching and the possibility of SL as a means to promote conversational interactions has been reported. However, the research so far has largely focused on simply using SL without further augmentations for communication between learners or between teachers and learners in a school-like environment. Conversely, not enough attention has been paid to its controllability which builds on the embedded functions in SL. This study, based on the latest theories of second language acquisition, especially on the Task Based Language Teaching and the Interaction Hypothesis, proposes to design and implement an automatized interactive task space (AITS) where robotic agents work as interlocutors of learners. This paper presents a design that incorporates the SLA theories into SL and the implementation method of the design to construct AITS, fulfilling the controllability of SL. It also presents the result of the evaluation experiment conducted on the constructed AITS.

Learning in Virtual Worlds: Research and Applications

Three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds have been touted as being capable of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning experiences. Much of the evidence gathered to support these claims has been anecdotal but the potential that these environments hold to solve traditional problems in online and technology-mediated education—primarily learner isolation and student disengagement—has resulted in considerable investments in virtual world platforms like Second Life, OpenSimulator, and Open Wonderland by both professors and institutions. To justify this ongoing and sustained investment, institutions and proponents of simulated learning environments must assemble a robust body of evidence that illustrates the most effective use of this powerful learning tool. In this authoritative collection, a team of international experts outline the emerging trends and developments in the use of 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning. They explore aspects of learner interaction with virtual worlds, such as user wayfinding in Second Life, communication modes and perceived presence, and accessibility issues for elderly or disabled learners. They also examine advanced technologies that hold potential for the enhancement of learner immersion and discuss best practices in the design and implementation of virtual world-based learning interventions and tasks. By evaluating and documenting different methods, approaches, and strategies, the contributors to Learning in Virtual Worlds offer important information and insight to both scholars and practitioners in the field. AU Press is an open access publisher and the book is available for free in PDF format as well as for purchase on our website: http://bit.ly/1W4yTRA

Ecological validity of virtual reality daily living activities screening for early dementia: longitudinal study

Background: Dementia is a multifaceted disorder that impairs cognitive functions, such as memory, language, and executive functions necessary to plan, organize, and prioritize tasks required for goal-directed behaviors. In most cases, individuals with dementia experience difficulties interacting with physical and social environments. The purpose of this study was to establish ecological validity and initial construct validity of a fire evacuation Virtual Reality Day-Out Task (VR-DOT) environment based on performance profiles as a screening tool for early dementia. Objective: The objectives were (1) to examine the relationships among the performances of 3 groups of participants in the VR-DOT and traditional neuropsychological tests employed to assess executive functions, and (2) to compare the performance of participants with mild Alzheimer’s-type dementia (AD) to those with amnestic single-domain mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls in the VR-DOT and traditional neuropsychological tests used to assess executive functions. We hypothesized that the 2 cognitively impaired groups would have distinct performance profiles and show significantly impaired independent functioning in ADL compared to the healthy controls. Methods: The study population included 3 groups: 72 healthy control elderly participants, 65 amnestic MCI participants, and 68 mild AD participants. A natural user interface framework based on a fire evacuation VR-DOT environment was used for assessing physical and cognitive abilities of seniors over 3 years. VR-DOT focuses on the subtle errors and patterns in performing everyday activities and has the advantage of not depending on a subjective rating of an individual person. We further assessed functional capacity by both neuropsychological tests (including measures of attention, memory, working memory, executive functions, language, and depression). We also evaluated performance in finger tapping, grip strength, stride length, gait speed, and chair stands separately and while performing VR-DOTs in order to correlate performance in these measures with VR-DOTs because performance while navigating a virtual environment is a valid and reliable indicator of cognitive decline in elderly persons. Results: The mild AD group was more impaired than the amnestic MCI group, and both were more impaired than healthy controls. The novel VR-DOT functional index correlated strongly with standard cognitive and functional measurements, such as mini-mental state examination (MMSE; rho=0.26, P=.01) and Bristol Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale scores (rho=0.32, P=.001). Conclusions: Functional impairment is a defining characteristic of predementia and is partly dependent on the degree of cognitive impairment. The novel virtual reality measures of functional ability seem more sensitive to functional impairment than qualitative measures in predementia, thus accurately differentiating from healthy controls. We conclude that VR-DOT is an effective tool for discriminating predementia and mild AD from controls by detecting differences in terms of errors, omissions, and perseverations while measuring ADL functional ability.

Augmented environments for the targeting of hepatic lesions during image-guided robotic liver surgery

BACKGROUND Stereotactic navigation technology can enhance guidance during surgery and enable the precise reproduction of planned surgical strategies. Currently, specific systems (such as the CAS-One system) are available for instrument guidance in open liver surgery. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of such a system for the targeting of hepatic tumors during robotic liver surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS Optical tracking references were attached to one of the robotic instruments and to the robotic endoscopic camera. After instrument and video calibration and patient-to-image registration, a virtual model of the tracked instrument and the available three-dimensional images of the liver were displayed directly within the robotic console, superimposed onto the endoscopic video image. An additional superimposed targeting viewer allowed for the visualization of the target tumor, relative to the tip of the instrument, for an assessment of the distance between the tumor and the tool for the realization of safe resection margins. RESULTS Two cirrhotic patients underwent robotic navigated atypical hepatic resections for hepatocellular carcinoma. The augmented endoscopic view allowed for the definition of an accurate resection margin around the tumor. The overlay of reconstructed three-dimensional models was also used during parenchymal transection for the identification of vascular and biliary structures. Operative times were 240 min in the first case and 300 min in the second. There were no intraoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS The da Vinci Surgical System provided an excellent platform for image-guided liver surgery with a stable optic and instrumentation. Robotic image guidance might improve the surgeon's orientation during the operation and increase accuracy in tumor resection. Further developments of this technological combination are needed to deal with organ deformation during surgery.