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Haemophilia is a chronic and rare congenital bleeding disorder requiring treatment for life. An updated registry of data on this disease is of paramount importance for documenting prevalence, planning care, and evaluating effectiveness of resources in any country. The study presented in this paper is aimed at characterizing Portuguese patients’ clinical condition and demography, as well as the replacement therapy used in their treatment, based on hemo@record data, a technological solution that supports the National haemophilia registry. The analysis of 110 patients records confirmed the high prevalence of haemophilia A (75.5%) compared with haemophilia B (11.8%) and a large incidence in the severe levels (or the existence of people with mild severity without diagnosis and, consequently, without proper treatment) promoting insight about the portrayal of haemophilia in Portugal. This study should be extended as the registry evolves fostering an ever more efficient management of resources and ultimately a better quality of care for people with haemophilia.

This work contributed to a detailed study on a better understanding of the Jominy test, adopted a proportion of study to create the Jominy test device, exhibited favorable conceptions for the development of a prototype of the device, covering the four aspects of the project, being they: test device, test body heating system, test automation and instrumentation using embedded electronics and financial analysis for the elaboration of this project in Brazil. It was possible to observe in the results that the system is efficient, simple and functional, it was possible to obtain the first test carried out in the controlled environment the temperature data in degrees centigrade, the recorded data were automatically launched in Microsoft Excel by the PLX DAQ software, making the acquisition of the data. In the matter of preparing the test device, the drawings are presented in the 3D modeling software, cost tables of the materials used for assembly in Brazil. In terms of the heating system, a heating system was adopted that uses electromagnetic induction, the cost of materials related to the heating system design was also presented. Another relevant factor that contributes to the research and improvement of the prototype is the municipality, located in the Paraiba Valley region, located in the state of Sao Paulo, consisting of a fertile and relevant scenario of regional, national, international and multinational statistics, thus concluding the effectiveness for the mainly metallurgical industries. The results obtained were satisfactory and consistent, when they were created for the Jominy test device with the ability to submit small pieces for testing and mainly essential in the didactic point of view for a higher education institution of engineering and technology.

With the widespread advent of visualization techniques to convey complex data, visualization literacy (VL) is growing in importance. Two noteworthy facets of literacy are user understanding and the discovery of visual patterns with the help of graphical representations. The research literature on VL provides useful guidance and opportunities for further studies in this field. This introduction summarizes and presents research on VL that examines how well users understand basic and advanced data representations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first tutorial article on interactive VL. We describe evaluation categories of existing relevant research into unique subject groups that facilitate and inform comparisons of literacy literature and provide a starting point for interested readers. In addition, the introduction also provides an overview of the various evaluation techniques used in this field of research and their challenging nature. Our introduction provides researchers with unexplored directions that may lead to future work. This starting point serves as a valuable resource for beginners interested in the topic of VL.

Assembly procedures are a common task in several domains of application. Augmented Reality (AR) has been considered as having great potential in assisting users while performing such tasks. However, poor interaction design and lack of studies, often results in complex and hard to use AR systems. This paper considers three different interaction methods for assembly procedures (Touch gestures in a mobile device; Mobile Device movements; 3D Controllers and See-through HMD). It also describes a controlled experiment aimed at comparing acceptance and usability between these methods in an assembly task using Lego blocks. The main conclusions are that participants were faster using the 3D controllers and Video see-through HMD. Participants also preferred the HMD condition, even though some reported light symptoms of nausea, sickness and/or disorientation, probably due to limited resolution of the HMD cameras used in the video see-through setting and some latency issues. In addition, although some research claims that manipulation of virtual objects with movements of the mobile device can be considered as natural, this condition was the least preferred by the participants.

Virtual reality shows great potential as an alternative to traditional therapies for motor rehabilitation given its ability to immerse the user in engaging scenarios that abstract them from medical facilities and tedious rehabilitation exercises. This paper presents a virtual reality application that includes three serious games and that was developed for motor rehabilitation. It uses a standalone headset and the user's hands without the need for any controller for interaction. Interacting with an immersive virtual reality environment using only natural hand gestures involves an interaction that is similar to that of real life, which would be especially desirable for patients with motor problems. A study involving 28 participants (4 with motor problems) was carried out to compare two types of interaction (hands vs. controllers). All of the participants completed the exercises. No significant differences were found in the number of attempts necessary to complete the games using the two types of interaction. The group that used controllers required less time to complete the exercise. The performance outcomes were independent of the gender and age of the participants. The subjective assessment of the participants with motor problems was not significantly different from the rest of the participants. With regard to the interaction type, the participants mostly preferred the interaction using their hands (78.5%). All four participants with motor problems preferred the hand interaction. These results suggest that the interaction with the user’s hands together with standalone headsets could improve motivation, be well accepted by motor rehabilitation patients, and help to complete exercise therapy at home.

O ensino médico passou por uma série de transformações ao longo das últimas décadas. As mudanças curriculares, cada vez mais, requerem profissionais capacitados na integração e manuseio dos novos recursos. Estas alterações no modo de educar, ensinar e instruir são necessárias para formação completa dos estudantes de medicina, visto que a tecnologia está promovendo grandes avanços na área médica. Hoje, um dos maiores desafios do curso de Medicina, que demanda atenção dos docentes, é a preparação dos alunos para uma prescrição consciente, principalmente com relação aos antimicrobianos, visto que erros podem levar a resistência antimicrobiana e até mesmo a prejuízos para os pacientes. Diante disso, o presente estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver um e-book de fácil manuseio e de leitura acessível para auxiliar o ensino da antibioticoterapia. Finalizada a elaboração do material, este foi disponibilizado para um grupo de alunos de uma mesma turma do curso de medicina. Posteriormente, uma prova foi aplicada a todos os alunos desta mesma turma. O número total de participantes do estudo foi de 102 alunos, dos quais 83,33% (N=85) não tiveram acesso ao e-book. A taxa de acertos das questões no grupo de alunos que não tiveram acesso ao e-book foi 52,07% e no grupo que teve acesso ao E-book foi 89,80%, diferença de 37,73%, variando de 1,18% a 67,06%. Portanto, conclui-se que é essencial a introdução das metodologias digitais como alternativas para auxiliar o estudo dos alunos.

Rayground is a novel online framework for fast prototyping and interactive demonstration of ray tracing algorithms. It aims to set the ground for the online development of ray-traced visualization algorithms in an accessible manner for everyone, stripping off the mechanics that get in the way of creativity and the understanding of the core concepts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote teaching and online coursework have taken center stage. In this work, we demonstrate how Rayground can incorporate advanced instructive rendering media during online lectures as well as offer attractive student assignments in an engaging, hands-on manner. We cover things to consider when building or porting methods to this new development platform, best practices in remote teaching and learning activities, and time-tested assessment and grading strategies suitable for fully online university courses.

To support the nuances of collaborative work, many researchers have been exploring the field of Augmented Reality (AR), aiming to assist in co-located or remote scenarios. Solutions using AR allow taking advantage from seamless integration of virtual objects and real-world objects, thus providing collaborators with a shared understanding or common ground environment. However, most of the research efforts, so far, have been devoted to experiment with technology and mature methods to support its design and development. Therefore, it is now time to understand where the field stands and how well can it address collaborative work with AR, to better characterize and evaluate the collaboration process. In this article, we perform an analysis of the different dimensions that should be taken into account when analysing the contributions of AR to the collaborative work effort. Then, we bring these dimensions forward into a conceptual framework and propose an extended human-centered taxonomy for the categorization of the main features of Collaborative AR. Our goal is to foster harmonization of perspectives for the field, which may help create a common ground for systematization and discussion. We hope to influence and improve how research in this field is reported by providing a structured list of the defining characteristics. Finally, some examples of the use of the taxonomy are presented to show how it can serve to gather information for characterizing AR-supported collaborative work, and illustrate its potential as the grounds to elicit further studies.

Even with the growth of digital data sources and support for creating visualizations, much information disseminated in chart format is still static, whether printed or digital. Some common problems of visualization components can be easily corrected on the chart design using a charting tool, but in the real world, mainly in the printed media, it is not a simple task. We investigate a method to reconstruct visualizations in real-time and in a real-world environment using Augmented Reality. We propose a prototype that interacts with extracted data from a bitmap chart in the real world, and we evaluated it with usability experts. The results show a high degree of satisfaction on many factors, mainly filter usage and valuable feedback about interaction.

Augmented Reality (AR) has been explored with the objective to assist in scenarios of co-located or remote collaboration. To help understand how well collaborative work can be addressed with AR, it is important to foster harmonization of perspectives and create a common ground for systematization and discussion. In this vein, understand relationships among existing dimensions of collaboration, as well as identify research opportunities, is of paramount importance and thus tools that allow visually exploring information associated with Collaborative AR may be most valuable. In this paper, we present a first effort towards the creation of such an interactive visualization tool for exploration and analysis of collaborative AR research. It allows visualize data of selected papers organized according to a human-centered taxonomy on collaborative AR. In order to get insights into whether the structure was understood and if the representation was clear and efficient to use, we evaluated the proposed tool through a user study with 40 participants. Results suggest the tool has potential towards the creation of a shared understanding and identification of existing patterns, trends and opportunities within the field of collaborative AR.

Virtual reality (VR) applications meet fundamental principles of rehabilitation: intensity, task oriented training, biofeedback, environments rich in stimuli, and motivation, all pivotal factors for the success of rehabilitation programs. This paper describes the development process of a set of VR minigames developed to increase the motivation of stroke patients while performing repetitive upper limb movements.

This article details a system titled “Camera as Mediator” that was built to aid undergraduate Film Studies students study camera placement and shot composition techniques. Learning how camera placement impacts a film is a common educational outcome in undergraduate Film Studies classes. However, building a controlled set with proper lighting, actors, and props is a cost- and time-prohibitive task in a typical introductory course. A virtual system can give students more hands-on experience and leave ample time to focus on core learning outcomes. To this end, we constructed a photorealistic virtual environment to replicate a scene from the Charlie Chaplin film “The Gold Rush” using computer-generated models and three-dimensional scans of actors dressed as the characters from the movie. An interface was designed to allow students to navigate around the scene with a virtual camera and capture shots from perspectives not visible in the original movie. By saving and comparing these different shots, students are easily able to explore how the mood and feel of a story changes with the camera’s perspective. Doing this virtually enables undergraduate students in large classes and/or online classes and with potentially limited time and equipment to study film making techniques in greater depth than they would otherwise.

Maintaining appropriate home rehabilitation programs after stroke, with proper adherence and remote monitoring is a challenging task. Virtual reality (VR) - based serious games could be a strategy used in telerehabilitation (TR) to engage patients in an enjoyable and therapeutic approach. The aim of this review was to analyze the background and quality of clinical research on this matter to guide future research. The review was based on research material obtained from PubMed and Cochrane up to April 2020 using the PRISMA approach. The use of VR serious games has shown evidence of efficacy on upper limb TR after stroke, but the evidence strength is still low due to a limited number of randomized controlled trials (RCT), a small number of participants involved, and heterogeneous samples. Although this is a promising strategy to complement conventional rehabilitation, further investigation is needed to strengthen the evidence of effectiveness and support the dissemination of the developed solutions.

While there are already several digital platforms to support cognitive rehabilitation allowing therapists to create sessions, they often overlook the importance of taking into consideration patients’ personal values and interests (personalization) to promote their engagement in rehabilitation. This paper proposes a personalized digital approach for cognitive rehabilitation. It presents a web-based prototype developed in collaboration with domain experts of a national Rehabilitation Center using a user-centered approach. This prototype allows therapist to create personalized exercises with content relevant to patients’ life, interests or personality, assign them to patients, and monitor their performance. It was evaluated regarding usability and assessed by two domain experts who suggested improvements to the prototype and put forward ideas for extending the approach.

Industry 4.0 or also called the digital paradigm brings with it an environment where information sharing, and agile flows can improve the results of organizations but also create great challenges for operators. The digital paradigm promotes the globalization of human capital, with an impact on worker turnover, as well as on the potential increase in the loss of organizational knowledge, as workers leave companies. Thus, this work, through the combination of the concepts of digital transformation and information management, joint with the techniques of BPM and Lean, clarifies a methodology (using BPMN) for the creation of a repository of organizational knowledge (enhancing instruction modelling work routines), while promoting the introduction of digital tools in daily tasks, placing the operator in the foreground. This digital introduction promotes the elimination of waste connected with Lean Information Management, creating more fluid information flows in the company. The human factor is then valued and new points of connection between the human workforce and digital tools are established, while organizational knowledge is updated, created, and retained.