The Brazilian experience in design for health: Interdisciplinary and Bioethics

Health design in Brazil has been characterized historically by replacing imported products with others that are locally manufactured on a small scale. The formation of interdisciplinary groups has never been submitted to specific norms, particularly at universities. In January 2007 the Health Design Group was created at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, a partnership between people from the design group at the authors’ Institutions: Architecture and Urbanism School and School of Medicine. Aiming at documenting some important experiences on the Brazilian scene to provide historical and methodological subsidies for research done by this group, a survey was conducted to find the pioneer experiences that, using the technology available at the time they were developed, paved the way for the current research. We selected some experiments that began at the end of the 1950s lasting until the 90s, along with their researchers; among them are the Brazilian Foundation for the Development of Science Teaching (FUNBEC), the department of bioengineering of the Heart Institute (InCor) of the University of Sao Paulo (USP) Medical School, the medical equipment at Rede Sarah, and some experiences in the field of Ophthalmology. Besides the historical documentation, the results of the Health Design Group specifically include the development of two products, a high-optical-quality magnifying glass and the innovative reading stand associated with a magnifying glass that has already been successfully tested in accordance with ethical standards by low vision patients at authors’ Institution. Thus, the creation of the Health Design Group fosters cross-disciplinary integration of subjects such as medicine and design. Based on the previously cited experiences and looking forward to implementing new research methods at authors’ Institutions, this group is getting the first results, such as the inclusion of interdisciplinary work and the implementation of bioethics in research on the design of medical equipment. Keywords: health design; ethics; cross-disciplinary integration; bioengineering; ophthalmology; low vision; medical equipment.</p

Ray-optical refraction with confocal lenslet arrays

Two parallel lenslet arrays with focal lengths f1 and f2 that share a common focal plane (that is, which are separated by a distance f1+f2) can refract transmitted light rays according to Snell's law, but with the 'sin's replaced with 'tan's. This is the case for a limited range of input angles and other conditions. Such confocal lenslet arrays can therefore simulate the interface between optical media with different refractive indices, n1 and n2, whereby the ratio η=-f2/f1 plays the role of the refractive-index ratio n2/n1. Suitable choices of focal lengths enable positive and negative refraction. In contrast to Snell's law, which leads to nontrivial geometric imaging by a planar refractive-index interface only for the special case of n1=±n2, the modified refraction law leads to geometric imaging by planar confocal lenslet arrays for any value of η. We illustrate some of the properties of confocal lenslet arrays with images rendered using ray-tracing software

Towards Making Videos Accessible for Low Vision Screen Magnifier Users

People with low vision who use screen magnifiers to interact with computing devices find it very challenging to interact with dynamically changing digital content such as videos, since they do not have the luxury of time to manually move, i.e., pan the magnifier lens to different regions of interest (ROIs) or zoom into these ROIs before the content changes across frames. In this paper, we present SViM, a first of its kind screen-magnifier interface for such users that leverages advances in computer vision, particularly video saliency models, to identify salient ROIs in videos. SViM\u27s interface allows users to zoom in/out of any point of interest, switch between ROIs via mouse clicks and provides assistive panning with the added flexibility that lets the user explore other regions of the video besides the ROIs identified by SViM. Subjective and objective evaluation of a user study with 13 low vision screen magnifier users revealed that overall the participants had a better user experience with SViM over extant screen magnifiers, indicative of the former\u27s promise and potential for making videos accessible to low vision screen magnifier users

Understanding How Low Vision People Read Using Eye Tracking

While being able to read with screen magnifiers, low vision people have slow and unpleasant reading experiences. Eye tracking has the potential to improve their experience by recognizing fine-grained gaze behaviors and providing more targeted enhancements. To inspire gaze-based low vision technology, we investigate the suitable method to collect low vision users' gaze data via commercial eye trackers and thoroughly explore their challenges in reading based on their gaze behaviors. With an improved calibration interface, we collected the gaze data of 20 low vision participants and 20 sighted controls who performed reading tasks on a computer screen; low vision participants were also asked to read with different screen magnifiers. We found that, with an accessible calibration interface and data collection method, commercial eye trackers can collect gaze data of comparable quality from low vision and sighted people. Our study identified low vision people's unique gaze patterns during reading, building upon which, we propose design implications for gaze-based low vision technology.Comment: In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23

Head-mounted displays and dynamic text presentation to aid reading in macular disease

The majority of individuals living with significant sight loss have residual vision which can be enhanced using low vision aids. Smart glasses and smartphone-based headsets, both increasing in prevalence, are proposed as a low vision aid platform. Three novel tests for measuring the visibility of displays to partially sighted users are described, along with a questionnaire for assessing subjective preference. Most individuals tested, save those with the weakest vision, were able to see and read from both a smart glasses screen and a smartphone screen mounted in a headset. The scheme for biomimetic scrolling, a text presentation strategy which translates natural eye movement into text movement, is described. It is found to enable the normally sighted to read at a rate five times that of continuous scrolling and is faster than rapid serial visual presentation for individuals with macular disease. With text presentation on the smart glasses optimised to the user, individuals with macular disease read on average 65% faster than when using their habitual optical aid. It is concluded that this aid demonstrates clear benefit over the commonly used devices and is thus recommended for further development towards widespread availability

Implementation and analysis of several keyframe-based browsing interfaces to digital video

In this paper we present a variety of browsing interfaces for digital video information. The six interfaces are implemented on top of Físchlár, an operational recording, indexing, browsing and playback system for broadcast TV programmes. In developing the six browsing interfaces, we have been informed by the various dimensions which can be used to distinguish one interface from another. For this we include layeredness (the number of “layers” of abstraction which can be used in browsing a programme), the provision or omission of temporal information (varying from full timestamp information to nothing at all on time) and visualisation of spatial vs. temporal aspects of the video. After introducing and defining these dimensions we then locate some common browsing interfaces from the literature in this 3-dimensional “space” and then we locate our own six interfaces in this same space. We then present an outline of the interfaces and include some user feedback

Visual Awareness: Enabling Iterative Thinking through Photography

This paper presents research results that aid in understanding how photography can become a tool for iterative thinking as a mode of reflection. The research was conducted in three phases. The first consisted of a specific task: after reading assigned materials from different sources, PhD students had to take a photograph as a visual reading-report. In the second phase, all the created images were presented and discussed during class. In the last stage, the students talked about their experience through in-depth interviews. The findings showed that visual awareness linked observation and reflection at the same time, since the students were continually looking for ordinary objects to carry new meanings that were relatable to specific arguments and ideas expressed in the reading materials. Hence, visual awareness is understood in this paper as a mode of visual perception that enables a process of thinking iteratively about a particular topic. The photographic camera was identified as a thinking tool that could be a valuable device to incorporate into educational activities. Finally, in addition to practicing iterative thinking, students expressed feeling engaged and motivated, enjoying this activity, and embracing the challenge

Academic use of smart phones for social development of visually impaired students of University of Karachi: A study of android Smartphone applications by VI students.

Smart phones are very common in Pakistan since last 5 years. Smart phone is a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touch screen interface, internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps. (Woyke,2014) states that the first true smart phone actually made its debut earlier in 1992. Smart phone has now captured the human life at a very large extent. Smart phone has become a part of daily, professional, social and academic life. Students are dependent on smart phones for their academic and social activities. It could be used for dictionary, for browsing and searching a piece of information or interacting with others for social needs. Visually impaired refers to the condition in which a person is partially or completely blind. The VI students have equal information and social needs as sighted people. VI students are a part of society and play an equal role in the social development of a society. Smart phones are helpful in routine academic tasks and social activities of the students. It is difficult task to satisfy their immediate information and social needs using an android Smartphone. The focus of this study is to show the academic use of smart phone for the social development of visually impaired students of faculty of social science and faculty of Education of University of Karachi. There are 24 departments in these faculties and more than 20 VI students are getting education from these departments. This study aims to discuss the Applications of android Smartphone used for academic purpose and their social development. VI students of faculty of social science and education, university of Karachi identify some specific apps during data collection. These applications will be helpful to increase the accessibility of Smartphone among VI students. The study identified that smart phone is very useful for academic and social activities