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1. A qualitative study on the needs of visually impaired users in Brazil for smart home interactive technologies.

Author

Faria Oliveira, Otávio de, Carvalho Gonçalves, Mateus, de Bettio, Raphael Winckler, and Pimenta Freire, André

Subjects
*HOME environment, *STATISTICS, *ATTITUDES toward computers, *RESEARCH methodology, *ATTITUDE (Psychology), *USER interfaces, *CONSUMER attitudes, *HABIT, *INTERVIEWING, *ACTIVITIES of daily living, *QUALITATIVE research, *LIFE, *SOFTWARE architecture, *PRODUCT design, *AUTOMATION, *ASSISTIVE technology, *RESEARCH funding, *ACCESSIBLE design, *QUESTIONNAIRES, *DESCRIPTIVE statistics, *VISION disorders, *PEOPLE with disabilities, *NEEDS assessment, *THEMATIC analysis, *STATISTICAL sampling, *DATA analysis software
Abstract

Assistive technologies have allowed people with disabilities to perform daily tasks with greater independence and autonomy, especially for visually impaired people. Using smart home solutions allows these users to control their homes with less cognitive and physical demand. However, making such applications accessible to meet the needs of visually impaired users, especially in developing countries, remains a challenge. This paper investigates the perceptions of these users about home automation technologies through semi-structured interviews. A total of 20 visually impaired people participated in the interviews. A thematic analysis revealed results concerning the following themes: (1) how people go about their lives at home and around, how people interact with current appliances, objects and environments, (3) how people perceive their attitude to technologies, (4) the Brazilian context of smart homes, (5) what people think smart homes should do and (6) envisaging ways of interacting with smart home systems. The results obtained provide significant insight into the needs of visually-impaired people in Brazil, with analysis of issues that are common with previous studies in more developed countries and specific issues that have important particularities and implications in Brazil and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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2. Predicting equations for determining layer elastic moduli by using Deflection Basin Parameters (DBPs) from Falling Weight Deflectometer.

Author

Rocha, Marcos, Marques, Geraldo, and Silva, Rafael

Subjects
*DISINFECTION by-product, *EQUATIONS, *PAVEMENTS, *ELASTIC modulus, *STATISTICS
Abstract

This paper presents models that correlate deflection basin parameters (DBP) with seed moduli, which are the input of the backcalculation processes. The models were obtained by means of statistical analyses of a set of DBPs for different pavement structures. The proposed equations showed potential and increased accuracy in the estimation of seed moduli, since these are derived from DBP-based models that consider the deflection basin geometry. To evaluate the effectiveness of the models, they were applied to pavements located in five regions of Brazil, and a good approximation between the values of the seed and backcalculated moduli was observed. Therefore, there was less computational effort in the backcalculation process, since the closeness between the values of the moduli reduced the amount of iterations required. In pavements with different structures and boundary conditions, the methodology can be used to achieve more refined results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2022
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