ALENIA Spazio SPACE Activities

In: SPACE for a new cooperation between Italy and Japan. p.103-113Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

PC-based braille reading system

This study aims to aid the visually-impaired people by creating a system that is an alternative to braille translated books. The system is capable of translating text from a captured image to braille. The image, which is captured by a self-triggering camera but can also be operated manually, will be sent to the PC through a USB cable. An open-source Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is obtained to extract text from the image. The OCR is integrated in a GUI. The translated text will be sent to a PIC microcontroller through USB to UART. The PIC microcontroller will drive the braille reading device by converting the text to braille equivalent characters. This braille reading system is a reliable alternative to braille translated books for it has an option where the reader can choose between word-per-word mode or continuous mode of reading. Also, the system achieved an overall accuracy around 90%. With this technology, the visually impaired people will be given a chance to widen their knowledge and explore further on what the world has to offer

Development of a text to braille interpreter for printed documents through optical image processing

This paper presents the development of an optical text to braille converter device for aiding visually impaired individuals to read printed materials. This is a solution for the lag or even failure of translating or printing the braille version of everyday reading materials. The system utilized optical character recognition engine in which an image of the text to be translated into braille is captured. The digitized texts are then transferred electronically in a braille haptic device. This device are piezoelectric based haptic system which is composed of several haptic pins arranged in a way to resemble the braille writing system. Several experiments were conducted to determine the performance of the system. The overall system reliability obtained was 95.68%. The system is also capable of processing speed of 1 word in 2 seconds. The system performs at its best with a letter sized page reading material within the range of 15 to 20 cm from the camera, with the camera positioned at 0 degrees. © 2017 IEEE

‘Italian Renaissance Love Theory and the General Scholar in the Seventeenth Century’.

In his Traité de l’esprit de l’homme , Louis de La Forge argues that everything that can be observed in a living body can be explained without resorting to any form of knowledge. La Forge’s target, never explicitly mentioned, is Marin Cureau de La Chambre, who in his work as a whole had developed the thesis that animals act through the presence of a form of knowledge that is different from that of the intellect and that can be attributed to the body. In claiming the necessity of a form of knowledge in organic events, Cureau was answering to a problem raised by Campanella in his De sensu rerum . La Forge’s contention that no knowledge is required to explain nature is addressed against the permanence of Renaissance vitalism in the name of the original inspiration of Cartesian new science.Cureau de La Chambr

Process evaluation of school-based peer education for HIV prevention among Yemeni adolescents

<p>In 2005, a survey was conducted among all the 27 high schools of Aden, which revealed low levels of knowledge on major prevention measures, and a high level of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV (PLWH). The results served as a baseline for implementing a school-based peer education intervention for HIV prevention in the 27 schools of Aden. In 2008, and after 3 years of implementation, a quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted, which revealed that the peer education intervention has succeeded in improving HIV knowledge and skills; and in decreasing stigmatization of PLWH. This process evaluation aims to give a deeper understanding of the quasi-experimental evaluation which was conducted in the 27 high schools of Aden, and to highlight the factors that facilitated or inhibited school peer education in such a conservative Muslim setting. Qualitative methodologies were pursued, where 12 focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with peer educators, targeted students, school principals, social workers, and parents of peer educators. Results revealed that school-peer education was well received. There was an apparent positive effect on the life skills of peer educators, but the intervention had a lesser effect on targeted students. Key enabling factors have been the high quality of training for peer educators, supportive school principals, and acceptance of the intervention by parents. These findings are important for improving the life skills and peer education intervention at the school level, and in better planning and implementation of life skills and peer programmes at a national scale.</p>