Surface collision detection for virtual prototyping

This paper presents an efficient collision detection algorithm designed to support assembly and maintenance simulation of complex assemblies. This approach exploits the surface knowledge, available from CAD models, to determine intersecting surfaces. It proposes a novel combination of Overlapping Axis-Aligned Bounding Box (OAABB) and R-tree structures to gain considerable performance improvements. This paper also shows an efficient traversal algorithm based on the R-tree structure of Axis-Aligned Bounding Boxes to determine intersecting objects and intersecting surfaces between three-dimensional components, for supporting the recognition of constraints in assembly and disassembly operations in virtual prototyping environments. The implementation of the proposed collision detection algorithm performs well against moderately complex industrial case studies. Current experimental results show that this implementation is effective in determining intersecting surfaces at interactive rates with moderately complex real case studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The development of a gamebook for education

Mobile technologies are becoming very accessible to students, due to advances in the development of technology and a simultaneous decline in hardware costs. In this way, it is relevant to consider the potential of these devices in teaching and learning. Our research was designed to evaluate the possibility of creating gamebooks (gamified books) that are effective in teaching and learning. After analyzing the features available in many free or open tools for making ebooks we find out that these tools were not appropriate creating gamebooks. This paper presents a novel interactive book, the gamebook (g-book): a book with a story that can be read sequentially or not. The main difference refers to the ability to choose different paths to the main characters or the unfolding of the history, as happens in games. We built a model of a dynamic book that functions as an educational game for "Environmental Studies", aimed at children in the 4th grade, mostly 9-10 years old, in Portuguese schools. This paper presents the design and features of this g-book titled "Adventures in the Guadiana River", implemented with the Unity3D platform that can be explored in iPhones, iPads, Android mobile devices and web browsers for the OSX and Windows platforms. Preliminary tests with our prototypes revealed very good usability and promising pedagogical potential in the proposed models.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Desenvolvimento de recursos educativos em mundos virtuais

Virtual Worlds arean important area for development and implementation of educational resources, especially by their enclosing potential in termsof interaction, collaboration, participationand immersion factors regarded as significant stimuli in the teaching-learning process. The modeling and exploration of virtualworldscan provide usersinnovative learningenvironments, as well as means to develop ideas and concepts, conveying the creation of new knowledge. The Virtual Worldcan act as a platformfor synthesis and sharingof information using various types of media. In this article we contextualize Virtual Worldtechnology applied to learning of music history, and describe the creation and implementation of a VW, developed with the program VivatyStudio. This virtual worldrecreates a musical gallery, focusing on Aesthetic Periods of Music History, used in educational context, for an audience consisting of students from the 2ndCycleof Basic Education,in MusicalEducation area.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Empowering Rural Citizen Journalism Via Web 2.0 Technologies

Once acquainted with the modern information and communication tools made available with the advent of the Internet, five Brazilian rural communities participating in a pilot project to develop a self-sustaining telecenter model, engaged in citizen journalism using inexpensive digital video cameras. Community members used Web 2.0 collaborative tools to post short videos on the telecenter portal. The 95 video blogs published between September 2006 and May 2008 recorded various aspects of community life,including religious celebrations,oral history arts and crafts traditions,folklore,and envirnmental concerns. This study evaluates the impact of video blogging in these communities

Milage aprender+ uma app para aprender matemática usando smartphones e tablets

O baixo desempenho dos estudantes na aprendizagem da matemática constitui problema que em alguns países se tem vindo a acentuar nos últimos anos. De acordo com um estudo realizado pelo Departamento de Educação dos EUA, em 2010, as aulas em regime de blended-learning, ou b-learning, apresentam melhores resultados do que as tradicionais aulas presenciais. Por outro lado, observa-se um número crescente de estudantes que usa smartphones e tablets nas escolas, cuja popularidade pode ser aproveitada para estimular a sua utilização em atividades educacionais para melhorar a aprendizagem. Nesta comunicação apresenta-se uma nova aplicação para dispositivos móveis, smartphones e tablets, app MILAGE, através da qual o aluno pode aceder a conteúdos pedagógicos, dentro e fora da sala de aula. De modo a estimular e apoiar a realização das várias atividades propostas, a interface incorpora características de gamificação e recursos multimédia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Musical journey: a virtual world gamification experience for music learning

Games are an integral part of the learning process of humans, in particular for children, who exploit the imagery as an intrinsic part of their lives. Features from games have been successfully implemented as a means to captivate and motivate students to perform learning at various levels of education in traditional schools. This paper presents a virtual world – Musical Journey – representing the Aesthetic Periods of Music History. This virtual environment allows students to freely explore and discover the most relevant sounds, musical instruments and composers, ranging from the first century to present time. Musical Journey is a three-dimensional space that simulates an area similar to a museum or art gallery. In that context, musical contents are grouped into thematic exhibition halls, where users can interact with the exhibition. Musical Journey was developed with the Vivaty Studio program, exported to the standard X3D and configured for local or remote access using X3DOM enrolled in HTML5 pages, displaying 3-D contents in a web browser without any plug-ins. In this paper, we explain how the introduction of the concept gamification, through a process whereby we insert elements of game mechanics and design in the virtual world, contributed to the learning and motivation of the study of these curricula. We conclude this paper by presenting a case-study conducted among a sample group of students from the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education contemplating the use of this Virtual world in an educational context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The development of an interactive mathematics app for mobile learning

Low achievement in mathematics education has been an increasing problem in the recent years in some countries. According to a 2010 study from the U.S. Department of Education, blended learning classes produce statistically better results than their face-to-face. There is also an increasing number of students using smartphones and tablets in schools. Mobile devices gained popularity as an educational tool and there are many schools that use them frequently in educational activities to improve learning. In this paper, we present the development of an application for smartphones and tablets to provide activities that students can do outside the classroom or at home and increase the time they spend learning and practicing mathematics. With this app students solve mathematic activities and are helped by the presentation of videos with the problems resolutions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Education as a tool to reduce the water footprint of young people

Introduction: Due to the global changes, fresh water became scarce in many geographical realities. In this domain, education can play a significant role, contributing to the sustainable water management. Objectives: Estimate the Water Footprint (WF) of young people, including their direct and indirect water uses. Develop an educational application that aims to exemplify measures which lead to water conservation in their daily activities. Methods: Two questionnaires. The first one was formulated in order to estimate the average WF of a young person, and the second one to establish the basis of the educational application. Samples included 82 students in the 12 – 15 age range. Results: The average WF of a student is 3223±830 L/day. The total indirect water use is over 10 times higher than direct use. Food accounts for the major part (84.4 %) of young person’s WF, and in the second place of indirect uses is clothing-related WF (6.4 %). Among analysed food groups, meat has the largest contribution (39.6 %) to the total personal WF. For both genders, high direct water use (264 L/day) is due in large part to long showers. Conclusions: Young people consume too much fresh water, what suggests the need to improve their behaviour in terms of eating habits, clothing and shower duration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Designing eBook interaction for mobile and contextual learning

Given the global spread of mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android, it is relevant to consider the potential of these devices in teaching and learning. Our exploratory research was designed to evaluate the possibility of using common ebook formats to create gamebooks (gamified books) that are effective in teaching and learning. After analyzing the features available in many free or open tools, we decided to use iBooks Author to built a first model of a dynamic book that may function as an educational game for "Environmental Studies", aimed at children in the 4th grade, mostly 9-10 years old, in Portuguese schools. This paper presents the design and features of this interactive book titled "Adventures in the Guadiana River", developed using the Apple iBook format, and especially set for the iPad retina. Because this is a proprietary format we also built a prototype following the EPUB3 standard and developed new ways to interact with content within this universal format. Preliminary tests with our prototypes revealed very good usability and promising pedagogical potential in the proposed models.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Anamorfoses e outras tecnologias imersivas no contexto da educação artística

Apresentamos uma proposta de investigação na área da média-arte digital onde se pretende combinar os princípios da anamorfose com as novas tecnologias baseadas na realidade aumentada. Esta perspetiva tem subjacente a ideia de que é possível relacionar a anamorfose cónica com as projeções realizadas em Realidade Aumentada. No âmbito desta investigação propõe-se uma abordagem ao estudo da perspetiva centrada nos contributos de Dürer e nos conceitos fundamentais da construção de anamorfoses. Pretende-se refletir sobre as possibilidades desta abordagem metodológica e analisar os seus contributos no desenvolvimento da capacidade de visualização espacial dos alunos do 3º ciclo do ensino básico e, desta forma, facilitar a compreensão dos conceitos relativos ao ensino da geometria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio