The SOLAIRE Project: A Gaze-Contingent System to Facilitate Reading for Patients with Scotomatas

Reading is a major issue for visually impaired patients suffering from a blind area in the fovea. Current systems to facilitate reading do not really benet from recent advances in computer science, such as computer vision and augmented reality. On the SOLAIRE project (Système d'Optimisation de la Lecture par Asservissement de l'Image au Regard), we develop an augmented reality system to help patients to read more easily, resulting from a strong interaction between ophthalmologists and researchers in visual neuroscience and computer science. The main idea in this project is to control the display of the text read with the gaze, taking into account the specic characteristics of the scotoma for every individual. This report describes the system

Navisio: Towards an integrated reading aid system for low vision patients

International audienceWe propose the Navisio software as a new integrated system to help low vision patients read complex electronic documents (here, PDF files) with more comfort. Navisio aims at taking into account main psychophysical results on reading performance of visually impaired patients. To do this, we analyze what are the main factors in uencing reading performance, and review some existing reading aid systems, dealing with printed and electronic documents. Then, we show how Navisio allows to extend the capabilities of existing reading systems, focusing on the facilitation to navigate in complex documents, and on the highly customizable display. Navisio performance was evaluated against a standard CCTV magnifier tool, with 26 low vision patients. Two kinds of texts were proposed (simple and complex documents) elaborated from a standardised text database. Results show a clear advantage of Navisio in terms of reading speed and comfort. Navisio is intended to evolve: we discuss how it could be extended to any scanned document, thanks to recent computer vision approaches in document layout analysis. Further challenging perspectives are also mentioned

A Model of Optimal Oculomotor Strategies in Reading for Normal and Damaged Visual Fields

ISBN : 978-2-9532965-0-1We present an ideal observer analysis of single word reading in normal readers and central scotoma patients. Using this technique we are able to predict the spatio-temporal pattern of saccades in terms of pixels. This enables us to contrast theories that are impossible to compare using the traditional letter-slot approaches to modelling reading

Navisio: Towards an integrated reading aid system for low vision patients

International audienceWe propose the Navisio software as a new integrated system to help low vision patients read complex electronic documents (here, PDF files) with more comfort. Navisio aims at taking into account main psychophysical results on reading performance of visually impaired patients. To do this, we analyze what are the main factors in uencing reading performance, and review some existing reading aid systems, dealing with printed and electronic documents. Then, we show how Navisio allows to extend the capabilities of existing reading systems, focusing on the facilitation to navigate in complex documents, and on the highly customizable display. Navisio performance was evaluated against a standard CCTV magnifier tool, with 26 low vision patients. Two kinds of texts were proposed (simple and complex documents) elaborated from a standardised text database. Results show a clear advantage of Navisio in terms of reading speed and comfort. Navisio is intended to evolve: we discuss how it could be extended to any scanned document, thanks to recent computer vision approaches in document layout analysis. Further challenging perspectives are also mentioned

Francisco Javier Monclús Fraga, Exposiciones internacionales y urbanismo, El proyecto Expo Zaragoza 2008

Suite à l’exposition internationale « Aichi 2005 » et dans la perspective de « Zarragoza 2008 », F. J. Monclús Fraga, architecte saragossais, nous propose une synthèse historique et prospective du lien entre exposition et urbanisme. Cet ouvrage interdisciplinaire attire l’attention du lecteur sur les complémentarités ou les divergences qui peuvent exister entre l’urbaniste et l’architecte. « Si le nouveau siècle se traduit en interdépendances », comme le précise dans la préface de l’ouvrage, ..

Les sites des expositions de Séville, Lisbonne et Saragosse : de l’éphémère au durable ?

Les expositions de Séville (1992), Lisbonne (1998) et Saragosse (2008) ont induit l’aménagement de fronts de mer auparavant délaissés ou inexploités. Ces événements ont favorisé le passage de fonctions industrialo-portuaires à des fonctions tertiaires. Cependant, en dépit de la prise en compte croissante du temps long dans l’organisation générale de ce type d’événements, les questions de durabilité des installations mises en place et de pérennité du modèle de développement lié aux expositions restent aujourd’hui entières.The exposition of Seville (1992), Lisbon (1998), and Zaragoza (2008) have induced waterfront development of land that had been abandoned or unused. These events encouraged the transfer from industrial port functions to tertiary activities. However, in spite of the growing realization of the long time needed in the general organization of this type of event, the questions of durability of the installations put into place and of the continuity of the model of development tied to expositions remain unresolved

Francisco Javier Monclús Fraga, Exposiciones internacionales y urbanismo, El proyecto Expo Zaragoza 2008

Suite à l’exposition internationale « Aichi 2005 » et dans la perspective de « Zarragoza 2008 », F. J. Monclús Fraga, architecte saragossais, nous propose une synthèse historique et prospective du lien entre exposition et urbanisme. Cet ouvrage interdisciplinaire attire l’attention du lecteur sur les complémentarités ou les divergences qui peuvent exister entre l’urbaniste et l’architecte. « Si le nouveau siècle se traduit en interdépendances », comme le précise dans la préface de l’ouvrage, ..

L’impact des expositions internationales et universelles sur les métropoles de la péninsule ibérique: Séville / Lisbonne / Saragosse

Les expositions universelles et internationales sont répertoriées dans la catégorie des grands événements. Initialement orientées vers la mise en scène des avancées industrielles et des progrès des États nations, elles ont acquis peu à peu une dimension culturelle avec une mission éducative et pédagogique en ouvrant leur portes à un large public. Comment les expositions de Séville, Lisbonne et Saragosse ont-elles pu s’articuler avec les dynamiques métropolitaines et culturelles à l’œuvre en Europe? L’analyse comparée révèle des situations contrastées.Universal and international expositions are listed in the category of major events. Initially oriented toward the staging of individual displays of achievement and the progress of nation-states, they have gradually acquired a cultural dimension by opening their doors to a wide public and taking on an educational and pedagogical mission. How have the Seville Lisbon, and Saragossa expos been able to link together the metropolitan and cultural dynamics at work in Europe? A comparative analysis reveals contrasting situations

Les impacts des expositions internationales et universelles sur les dynamiques métropolitaines des villes de la péninsule ibérique : Séville, Lisbonne et Saragosse

Plus que d’autres types de grands évènements, les expositions internationales et universelles contribuent à changer le visage des villes organisatrices. Résolument comparative, cette analyse se propose de travailler sur trois expositions ayant eu lieu ces dernières décennies dans la péninsule ibérique. Les exemples de Séville, Lisbonne et Saragosse, villes de taille comparable et de contraintes similaires permettent de mieux évaluer les impacts de cette catégorie de grand évènement à la fois aux échelles métropolitaine, régionale et nationale. Au-delà de cet apport, l’objectif est également de dégager des éléments permettant d’analyser les bénéfices et les limites de ce type de grand évènement atour de quatre principaux items : l’impact urbain, l’impact économique, l’impact en termes d’image et l’impact sur les acteurs. Cette thèse vise à comprendre ce que ces expositions récentes ont apporté à ces villes, à la fois sur le court et le long terme, en analysant successivement les temps de la projection, de la réalisation et de la reconversion des sites d’exposition Ce travail démontre ainsi que les expositions, au-delà des réflexions postulant pour leur déclin progressif et inexorable, sont en fait de véritables accélérateurs du développement urbain et du processus de métropolisation. Mieux préparées et utilisées, elles pourraient donc être appelées aujourd’hui plus qu’hier encore à transformer les villes, notamment pour leur permettre de se mettre en cohérence avec les critères d’un développement métropolitain plus durable.More than other major events, universal and international exhibitions contribute to revamp host cities. Associated to a comparative method, this analysis intends to study the three exhibitions which took place those ultimate decades in the Iberian peninsula. The examples of Sevilla, Lisbon and Saragossa, comparable towns with similar issues allow to evaluate the impacts of this kind of major events considering the metropolitan, regional and national scales. Beyond this contribution, the goal is to underline the elements that allow to analyse the benefits and the limits of that type of major events given four principal elements: urban impact, economical impact, representative impact and social impact. This thesis aims at understanding the exhibition’s contribution to those towns, on a medium and a long term, considering the time of projection, realization and reconversion of exhibitions spots.This work also demonstrates that exhibitions, beyond the assumption of a progressive and inexorable decline, are real boosters for urban development and metropolisation process. Better prepared and used, exhibitions could be involved now more than ever in cities’ transformation, particularly to respect the criteria of a more sustainable metropolitan development

The optimal use of non-optimal letter information in foveal and parafoveal word recognition

International audienceLetters and words across the visual field can be difficult to identify due to limiting visual factors such as acuity, crowding and position uncertainty. Here, we show that when human readers identify words presented at foveal and para-foveal locations, they act like theoretical observers making optimal use of letter identity and letter position information independently extracted from each letter after an unavoidable and non-optimal letter recognition guess. The novelty of our approach is that we carefully considered foveal and parafoveal letter identity and position uncertainties by measuring crowded letter recognition performance in five subjects without any word context influence. Based on these behavioral measures, lexical access was simulated for each subject by an observer making optimal use of each subject's uncertainties. This free-parameter model was able to predict individual behavioral recognition rates of words presented at different positions across the visual field. Importantly, the model was also able to predict individual mislocation and identity letter errors made during behavioral word recognition. These results reinforce the view that human readers recognize foveal and paraf-oveal words by parts (the word letters) in a first stage, independently of word context. They also suggest a second step where letter identity and position uncertainties are generated based on letter first guesses and positions. During the third lexical access stage, identity and position uncertainties from each letter look remarkably combined together through an optimal word recognition decision process