Color-blind index in graphs of very low degree

Let $c:E(G)\to [k]$ be an edge-coloring of a graph $G$, not necessarily proper. For each vertex $v$, let $\bar{c}(v)=(a_1,\ldots,a_k)$, where $a_i$ is the number of edges incident to $v$ with color $i$. Reorder $\bar{c}(v)$ for every $v$ in $G$ in nonincreasing order to obtain $c^*(v)$, the color-blind partition of $v$. When $c^*$ induces a proper vertex coloring, that is, $c^*(u)\neq c^*(v)$ for every edge $uv$ in $G$, we say that $c$ is color-blind distinguishing. The minimum $k$ for which there exists a color-blind distinguishing edge coloring $c:E(G)\to [k]$ is the color-blind index of $G$, denoted $\operatorname{dal}(G)$. We demonstrate that determining the color-blind index is more subtle than previously thought. In particular, determining if $\operatorname{dal}(G) \leq 2$ is NP-complete. We also connect the color-blind index of a regular bipartite graph to 2-colorable regular hypergraphs and characterize when $\operatorname{dal}(G)$ is finite for a class of 3-regular graphs.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, and a 4 page appendi

SPECIES IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

The overall objective of the project NAT2CARE - Mobilisation of citizenship for the recover and the conservation of the Natura 2000 transboundary areas \u2013 is to improve the status and the presence of the biodiversity within the project partners\u2019 Natura 2000 areas (the Julian Prealps Nature Park, the Triglav National implementing Natura 2000 habitat and species measures, by improving their integrated and cross-border anagement, by raising environmental awareness and training, and by increasing the promotion of ecosystem services

Accessible Cosmetic Packaging for Visually Impaired and Blind Users

Visually impaired and blind users often find it challenging to identify cosmetic products, and colours and read the label information because of the lack of accessible cosmetic packaging. The goal of this study was to understand the characteristics of and design opportunities for accessible packaging. Four research questions were examined: 1) What features of the packaging design will make it easier to distinguish between various cosmetic products? 2) How may packaging be made to provide Visually impaired/Blind consumers with access to product label information? 3) How do Visually impaired/Blind individuals conceptualize colour and how may this be incorporated into product design/packaging? 4) What application can be developed to aid and enhance the user experience of existing cosmetic packaging? To answer these questions inclusive design framework was adopted, and a co-design methodology was used. Three co-designers took part in the study. Findings were grouped into two themes 1) Characteristics of packaging required to improve user's experience and 2)Characteristics that would minimize the need for users to seek advice from others prior to product selection or use. Findings were used 1) to create an accessible packaging checklist and 2) to design an app that helps visually impaired and blind users identify products, and colours and get expert feedback on how the make-up is applied. The application is named Beauty Ally. The checklist will help brands develop accessible cosmetic packaging for visually impaired and blind consumers. The app will enhance the user experience of visually impaired and blind consumers with existing packaging by helping them identify products, read label information, and colours and seek advice from volunteers

The Haptic Documentaries of Silvio Soldini

Silvio Soldini’s documentaries, like many of his feature films, focus on the representations of marginalized groups, on the unveiling of non-mainstream Italian realities and on the interweaving of multiple narratives that resist resolution. In this article, I consider three of Soldini's more recent documentaries, “Per altri occhi”, “Tre Milano”, and “Il fiume ha sempre ragione”, focusing particularly on how Soldini engages us in a form of active viewing that draws attention not just to the visual but to other senses, eliciting affective response and providing space for reflection on ways of being in the world

Understanding the barriers: grocery stores and visually impaired shoppers

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is legislation that aims toward having complete accessibility within the province of Ontario by the year 2025. The accessible built environment is one of the key areas covered by the legislation; therefore, grocery stores, as part of the built environment, should be designed to accommodate shoppers with different abilities. Grocery stores include many different zones and services with the aisles area being one of the main barriers to access for people with impaired vision. This area features many different sections such as canned goods, dry packaged goods, spices, drinks and snacks, baking supplies, baby items, cereals, cleaning products, pet supplies, and health and beauty items. For visually impaired individuals, however, it can be hard to reach these various sections and to find the relevant products. The purpose of this paper is to present a study that sought to understand the barriers that shoppers with vision impairment (VI) face in the grocery store`s built environment. The research approach was based on the application of the ethnography method, Think-aloud Protocol (TAP), Interviews, and behavioural mapping method.Peer Reviewe

Instructional eLearning technologies for the vision impaired

The principal sensory modality employed in learning is vision, and that not only increases the difficulty for vision impaired students from accessing existing educational media but also the new and mostly visiocentric learning materials being offered through on-line delivery mechanisms. Using as a reference Certified Cisco Network Associate (CCNA) and IT Essentials courses, a study has been made of tools that can access such on-line systems and transcribe the materials into a form suitable for vision impaired learning. Modalities employed included haptic, tactile, audio and descriptive text. How such a multi-modal approach can achieve equivalent success for the vision impaired is demonstrated. However, the study also shows the limits of the current understanding of human perception, especially with respect to comprehending two and three dimensional objects and spaces when there is no recourse to vision