Detection of Eye Movements

Import 05/08/2014Předmětem této bakalářské práce je detekce pohybů očí. Po provedení teoretického rozboru problematiky byla vybrána metoda elektrookulografie, která v dnešní době představuje možný kompromis mezi cenou a přesností zařízení. Rozvoji této metody bezpochyby prospívá i současný trend miniaturizace, kdy je možné elektrody upevnit např. do obrub brýlí. Elektrody tak není nutné mít přilepeny na obličeji, čímž se zvyšuje ochota lidí tuto metodu využívat. Cílem této práce je dostat elektrookulografii do podvědomí studentů. První část práce je věnována teoretickému rozboru elektrookulografie, nejnovějším poznatkům v této oblasti a jejímu srovnání s dalšími metodami. V praktické části je představeno vlastní hardwarové řešení elektrookulografu a vizualizační software, který pomůže studentům názorně předvést princip měření elektrookulografie a mohou si vyzkoušet přesnost elektrookulografu a ovládání jednoduché aplikace pohyby oka.The subject of this thesis is detection of eye movement. After the theoretical analysis, the method of electrooculography (EOG) was chosen. Nowadays, this method represents a possible compromise between the price and accuracy of equipment. Development of this method also benefits from the contemporary trend of miniaturization, when an electrode can be attached e.g. to the goggles so it is not necessary to have the electrodes attached on your face. This thesis aims at bringing the electrooculography to the awareness of students. In the first part I devote to the theoretical analysis electrooculography, the newest findings in this field and its comparison with other methods. In the practical part I present the hardware solution of electro-oculography and visualization software. This software helps students understand this method, enabling them to test the accuracy of electrooculograph and control of simple application with eye movement.450 - Katedra kybernetiky a biomedicínského inženýrstvívýborn

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Digital games for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): a systematic review

Individuos com transtornos do espectro do autismo (TEA) possuem desenvolvimento atipico nas areas cognitiva ou de aprendizagem, comunicacao e interacao social, deteccao e trato de emocoes, coordenacao motora e concentracao. O desenvolvimento de tecnologias assistivas e fundamental para melhorar a qualidade de vida destes individuos. Este estudo faz uma revisao sistematica da literatura com foco em jogos digitais usados como tecnologias assistivas para individuos com TEA. Fazendo uso da base digital IEEE Xplore, foram pesquisados estudos que continham o termo game em conjunto com termos relacionados ao TEA. A partir da busca foram encontradas 193 ocorrencias do conjunto de termos. Os artigos foram lidos e analisados, sendo selecionados os estudos que tratam de jogos digitais com foco em individuos com TEA. Foram excluidos da selecao jogos que fazem uso unicamente de hardwares especificos e que nao apresentam funcao de tecnología assistiva. Como resultado final deste estudo foram selecionados 62 artigos neste contexto, sendo que todos apresentam resultados positivos quanto ao uso dos jogos digitais na melhoria das capacidades das pessoas com TEA. Desta forma, e possivel verificar a consistencia de tal abordagem, encorajando a continuidade das pesquisas e do desenvolvimento de jogos digitais com foco em tecnología assistiva para pessoas com TEA.Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have atypical development in the areas of cognition or learning, communication and social interaction, detection and treatment of emotions, motor coordination and concentration. The development of assistive technologies is critical because they help to better the quality of life of these individuals. This study makes a systematic review of the literature focusing on digital games used as assistive technologies for individuals with ASD. Using the IEEE Xplore digital base, studies were conducted that contained the term "game" in conjunction with terms related to ASD. From the search were found 193 occurrences of the set of terms were found. The articles were read and analyzed, being the studies that deal with digital games focused on individuals with ASD. Games that only use specific hardware and not have the function of assistive technology were excluded from the selection. As a final result of this study, 62 articles were selected in this context, all of which present positive results regarding the use of digital games in improving the abilities of people with ASD. In this way, it is possible to verify the consistency of such an approach, encouraging the continuity of research and the development of digital games with a focus on assistive technology for people with ASD.Facultad de Informátic

An Evaluation of a School System’s Excursion into Online Instruction for Middle School Students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of online courses into one school system’s five traditional middle schools using these key questions: What steps were needed to implement an online program in middle school? What implementation differences (scheduling, extra time available, DLA appointment and support, number of facilitated courses, administrator perceptions and support, and faculty/staff support) existed among the schools? Were there student characteristics (demographic, classifications, reading achievement levels—EOG scores, prior academic achievement) that can be associated with success in online learning? What were the student outcomes (course participation, EOG scores, time management, technological skills, preparation for future coursework, high school credits earned)? Which online courses were most effective in fostering academic success? What changes should be implemented for this online program in the future? Data collection included individual interviews with administrators and distance learning advisors to determine processes and procedures. Student data included test data, course grades, student characteristics, and student perceptions from a survey developed by the school system. This study indicated that the presence of a strong distance learning advisor and a prerequisite online course play a major role in the success of online middle school students

An Analysis of the Evaluation Methods being Applied to Serious Games for Autistic Children

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopment condition that significantly impacts social communication and interaction as well as behavior impairments, including restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. In recent years, numerous studies have proposed serious games as a way to aid in the therapy of children with ASD. Hence, it is crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of such games and obtain robust evidence of their positive influence on this type of treatment. In this study, we aim to explore the evaluation of games for autistic children by conducting a Systematic Literature Review. We analyze the methods utilized to evaluate these games, their application and combination, the quality aspects assessed, and the number and characteristics (e.g., age and special need) of the participants involved in the evaluation process. Furthermore, we present a compilation of the study findings for each evaluation method. Our findings reveal that there is no standardized methodology since different methods have been utilized and combined in various ways to evaluate serious games that support the treatment of ASD children. As contributions, this paper provides valuable insights into how serious games have been evaluated in this context and can be useful for researchers and game designers working in the field

Implementation of new assistive technologies for people affected by Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

Individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) have impairments in the processing of social and emotional information. The number of children known to have autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s. This has sensitized the scienti¯c community to the design and development of technologies suitable for treating an autistic patient in order to broaden the emotive responsiveness, such as the employment of robotic systems to engage proactive interactive responses in children with ASDs. My PhD work focuses on the design and develop of new technologies for therapy with individual affect by ASD. The main challenge of my work has been to design and develop a novel control architecture able to reproduce the brain characteristics in terms of high concurrency processing, flexibility and the ability to learn new behavior. The main di±culties in implementing Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in hardware in terms of accuracy, gate complexity and speed performance are discussed. A new wearable eye tracking system able to investigate attention disorders early in infancy is proposed. Technological choices are emphasized with respect to unobtrusive and ecological to adapt the device for infants. New algorithms to increase the system robustness under illumination change and during calibration process have been developed and herein presented. Experimental test prove the effectiveness of the solutions. Considerations on the future research directions are addressed, stressing the multiple application fields of the designed device

Past, Present, and Future of EEG-Based BCI Applications

An electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) is a system that provides a pathway between the brain and external devices by interpreting EEG. EEG-based BCI applications have initially been developed for medical purposes, with the aim of facilitating the return of patients to normal life. In addition to the initial aim, EEG-based BCI applications have also gained increasing significance in the non-medical domain, improving the life of healthy people, for instance, by making it more efficient, collaborative and helping develop themselves. The objective of this review is to give a systematic overview of the literature on EEG-based BCI applications from the period of 2009 until 2019. The systematic literature review has been prepared based on three databases PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. This review was conducted following the PRISMA model. In this review, 202 publications were selected based on specific eligibility criteria. The distribution of the research between the medical and non-medical domain has been analyzed and further categorized into fields of research within the reviewed domains. In this review, the equipment used for gathering EEG data and signal processing methods have also been reviewed. Additionally, current challenges in the field and possibilities for the future have been analyzed

Consideração de competências sociais em contextos de comunicação mediada por tecnologia

Communication is a vital part of our daily lives. It allows us to express ourselves, our needs and feelings, enabling the establishment of relationships with others. Unfortunately, the ability to communicate can often be partially or, even, fully hindered due to a wide range of conditions. Since communication acts as a crucial step for integration, difficulties associated with communication can act as obstacles to those that experience them, making them struggle to feel included in society. Technological solutions designed to assist communication have been proposed with the ultimate goal of bridging deficits that bind those with communication issues to challenging routines. Nevertheless, although technology can play an important role in assisting users to surpass potential communication barriers, it may also give rise to others, pushing the user further away from actual direct social interaction and communication by providing methods that circumvent crucial steps of an actual human to human interaction. Taking in mind the importance of being able to communicate and the multiple facets of technology, but also other dimensions such as social interaction, and building on previous work regarding assistive communication technologies for school kids, this work addresses the promotion of social skills in technology-mediated contexts. To this end, a tool designed to motivate and promote face to face interaction as well as the employment of the user’s social skills during them, is proposed, not to act as a replacement for direct social interaction, but as an instrument to support it and potentially teach and improve one’s social skills. To do so, this tool guides the user through a series of cooperative challenges that can only be surpassed by interacting with others, encompassing the steps to undergo what is defined as a basic social interaction by an adopted validated curriculum, the “Social Compass”, aimed to help people struggling with embracing social interactions. The proposed approach has already been tested by actual end users and professionals in the field of speech therapy with very promising results.A comunicação é uma parte vital do nosso quotidiano. É devido à comunicação que somos capazes de nos expressar, transmitindo as nossas necessidades e sentimentos a outros, permitindo a formação de relações entre nós. Infelizmente, a capacidade de comunicar pode ser afetada, parcialmente ou, até mesmo, na sua totalidade, devido a diversas condições. Como a comunicação constitui um passo importante para a inclusão social, dificuldades associadas à capacidade de comunicar podem agir como obstáculos para aqueles que as experienciam, fazendo com que estes confrontem múltiplas adversidades para se sentirem propriamente incluídos na sociedade. Soluções tecnológicas, desenhadas para auxiliar a comunicação, foram propostas com o principal objetivo de superar défices que obrigam aqueles que apresentem dificuldades na comunicação, a serem confrontados com rotinas diárias constituídas por desafios provenientes dessas dificuldades. Num entanto, apesar da tecnologia apresentar um papel importante em auxiliar utilizadores a ultrapassar determinadas barreiras à comunicação, esta pode também erguer outras, distanciando o utilizador ainda mais de interações sociais reais através da exposição de métodos ao utilizador que contornam passos cruciais que perfazem uma interação real entre pessoas. Considerando a importância da capacidade de comunicar e as múltiplas aplicações da tecnologia, bem como outras áreas relacionadas com a utilização de competências sociais, por exemplo, e desenvolvendo sobre prévias soluções de auxilio à comunicação para crianças num contexto escolar, este trabalho aborda a aplicação de competências sociais em contextos onde a comunicação é mediada por tecnologia. Para este fim, uma ferramenta com o objetivo de motivar e promover interações sociais frente a frente, bem como a aplicação das competências sociais do utilizador durante essas interações, é proposta, não para atuar como um substituto a interações sociais diretas, mas sim como um instrumento para as suportar e potencialmente ensinar e melhorar essas competências. Com esse propósito, esta ferramenta guia o utilizador através de um conjunto de desafios cooperativos que apenas podem ser ultrapassados interagindo com outros utilizadores. Estes desafios fazem com que o utilizador tenha de aplicar as competências sociais necessárias para a realização de uma interação social básica, reconhecida dessa forma pelo currículo social válido adotado, “Social Compass”, cujo objetivo é auxiliar pessoas com dificuldades associadas à interação social. A solução proposta foi testada por utilizadores alvo e profissionais na área da terapia da fala, com resultados promissores.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine