Maria Beatriz Carmo

University of Lisbon | UL · Department of Informatics

We present an AR application for visualizing solar radiation data on facades of buildings, generated from LiDAR data and climatic observations. Data can be visualized using colored surfaces and glyphs. A user study revealed the proposed AR visualizations were easy to use, which can lead to leverage the potential benefits of AR visualizations: to de...

Anxiety is an increasingly common feeling in our society; it can be very debilitating and, if not properly treated, can evolve to more serious health problems. This paper describes a low-cost Virtual Reality solution to support the treatment of social anxiety, more specifically the anxiety of speaking in front of an audience. Our application involv...

The flexibility of free-hand drawing perspectives denotes the dynamic nature of human sight and no single perspective system, linear or curvilinear, can translate human vision with such agility. For instance, linear perspective cannot deal with large fields of view, and curvilinear perspectives introduce curvature in lines. But together, complement...

A challenge in presenting augmented reality information, particularly in outdoor environments, is to distinguish the virtual symbols from the background image. In this paper we report on a user study that leverages prior knowledge about adaptations to improve symbol conspicuity by expanding its application to outdoor environments and mobile handhel...

This paper describes an application that generates a simulation of a jury with one to three virtual humans capable of exhibiting facial and body expressions controllable in real-time. This control is performed through an interface that combines facial action elements (AU-Action Units, as described in the Facial Action Coding System), with upper-bod...

Background The range of musculoskeletal and connective tissue conditions that manifest in children is referred to as paediatric rheumatic diseases [1] . Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common childhood chronic rheumatic disease [2] . This disease is the most frequent cause of chronic pain in young people, which negatively affects th...

This open access book is a valuable resource for students in health and other professions and practicing professionals interested in supporting effective change in self-management behaviors in chronic disease, such as medication taking, physical activity and healthy eating. Developed under the auspices of the Train4Health project, funded by the Er...

The final chapter presents open-access educational products that supplement this book: case studies and a web application to simulate behaviour change support in persons with chronic disease. The former is of particular interest for academic educators, while the latter may interest students independently pursuing training outside the classroom. The...

The recent developments of mobile devices have enhanced the possibilities of applications of Augmented Reality (AR), namely, providing data visualization in situ. The application prototype presented in this paper, SolAR, designed for Android tablet devices, allows the user to extract financial and energy feedback from a photovoltaic system, simulat...

This chapter describes the development of a theory-driven and evidence-based digital intervention to facilitate self-care in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and, additionally, its contribution to healthy aging and the individual care plan. T2D is highly prevalent in older adults. Difficulties in adopting and maintaining desirable self-care...

Botanical Gardens are among the most visited touristic attractions, offering scientific, educational, cultural and leisure activities to preserve and enhance heritage and disseminating specialised knowledge on science and history. There are several mobile applications (apps) to support visitors of Botanical Gardens, which explore augmented reality...

Background Conversational agents, which we defined as computer programs that are designed to simulate two-way human conversation by using language and are potentially supplemented with nonlanguage modalities, offer promising avenues for health interventions for different populations across the life course. There is a lack of open-access and user-fr...

Background IsomiRs are miRNA variants that vary in length and/or sequence when compared to their canonical forms. These variants display differences in length and/or sequence, including additions or deletions of one or more nucleotides (nts) at the 5′ and/or 3′ end, internal editings or untemplated 3′ end additions. Most available tools for small R...

BACKGROUND Conversational agents, which we defined as computer programs that are designed to simulate two-way human conversation by using language and are potentially supplemented with nonlanguage modalities, offer promising avenues for health interventions for different populations across the life course. There is a lack of open-access and user-fr...

In the context of the VASelfCare project, we developed an application prototype of an intelligent anthropomorphic virtual assistant. Designed as a relational agent, the virtual assistant has the role of supporting older people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) in medication adherence and lifestyle changes. Our paper has two goals: describing the...

E-learning courses offer, nowadays, opportunities for everyone to study wherever they are. However, asynchronous communication between students and teachers, and the lack of social engagement, leads frequently to a sense of abandonment and, in the limit, to withdrawal, as a consequence. To avoid this phenomenon, we developed an interface prototype...

This chapter describes the development of a theory-driven and evidence-based digital intervention to facilitate self-care in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and, additionally, its contribution to healthy aging and the individual care plan. T2D is highly prevalent in older adults. Difficulties in adopting and maintaining desirable self-care...

In recent years, the phenomenon of eSports has been a growing trend and consequently, in addition to players, other groups of users, including coaches and analysts, took an interest in online video games and the data extracted from them. Among many types of video games, one of the most widely played is the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) Lea...

We present a version of an application prototype developed in the context of the VASelfCare project. This application works as an intelligent anthropomorphic virtual relational agent that has the role of assisting older people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) in medication adherence and lifestyle changes.

Introduction: Improving adherence to antidiabetic medication is crucial, resulting in improved health outcomes, cost reduction, and minimization of waste. A lack of underlying theory in existing interventions may explain the limited success in sustaining behavior change. This paper describes the development of a theory and evidence-based complex in...

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most prevalent chronic rheumatic diseases (24% in Portugal, according to the Portuguese Society of Rheumatology) accounting for significant years of disability. Optimal management of OA requires active patient participation. A recent systematic review concluded that more effective information strategies...

RESUMO. Este capítulo apresenta reflexões seminais acerca da utilização de tutores virtuais no sistema de e-learning da Universidade Aberta. O tutor virtual é uma analogia do tutor humano, adota uma interface antropomórfica com características emocionais, comumente denominado de avatar, que integra inteligência artificial e pode constituir uma abor...

Diabetes has significant clinical, economic and humanistic implications, both at a national and global level. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is highly prevalent in older people. This paper describes a first prototype of an application intended to facilitate self-care of older people with T2D, supplementing appointments with healthcare professionals. The app...

Introduction: Engaging undergraduate students in faculty-led research is documented as a mutually valuable experience [1 Jansen D, Jadack R, Ayoola A, et al. Embedding research in undergraduate learning opportunities. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2015;37(10):1340–1358. doi:10.1177/0193945915571136[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [...

A wide range of applications for virtual humans can be envisaged for the needs of both research and intervention in Psychology. This chapter describes the development and preliminary testing of an interactive virtual reality application “Virtual Spectators” – whereby virtual humans with expressive behaviour modelled on the basis of field research i...

Online distance learning introduces several challenges, such as the dependence of online tools, the asynchronous communication between teachers and students, and the lack of synchronous social engagement level that in-classroom teaching can leverage. The existence of an online tutor 24 hours/day would be an interesting asset to potentially work as...

Introduction The continuing increase in life expectancy observed in many countries imposes an overwhelming challenge to health care. Furthermore, these years are dominated by declines in physical and mental capacities, along with multiple diseases and comorbidities. Active ageing has been reported as a cornerstone lifestyle component to achieve b...

The project VIRTUAL TUTORING-the virtual tutor as learning mediating artifact in online university education, is an ongoing project, with the main goal of analyzing the pedagogic impact of an anthropomorphic user interface on a typical distance learning environment targeted to support online higher education. This demands the creation of animated a...

The project VIRTUAL TUTORING-the virtual tutor as learning mediating artifact in online university education, is an ongoing project, with the main goal of analyzing the pedagogic impact of an anthropomorphic user interface on a typical distance learning environment targeted to support online higher education. This demands the creation of animated a...

The project VIRTUAL TUTORING-the virtual tutor as learning mediating artifact in online university education, is an ongoing project, with the main goal of analyzing the pedagogic impact of an anthropomorphic user interface on a typical distance learning environment targeted to support online higher education. This demands the creation of animated a...

Innovations in navigation technologies are inducing subtle transformations in the navigator role and navigation processes. Thus, research on maritime navigation, entails the need to further study the designs of all technological artefacts that are or might be used in navigation, and specifically those that involve Human Computer Interaction. To the...

A wide range of applications for virtual humans can be envisaged for the needs of both research and intervention in Psychology. This chapter describes the development and preliminary testing of an interactive Virtual Reality application – “Virtual Humans” - whereby virtual humans with expressive behaviour modelled on the basis of field research in...

This paper provides a contribution to the field of historical simulations of the past. Throughout this document, we will describe a novel model to animate these simulations with autonomous characters exhibiting heterogeneous and spontaneous behaviours and we will discuss a case study, the simulation of the medieval village of Mértola, in the South...

From historical advice to 3D modeling and programming, the process of reconstructing cultural heritage sites populated with virtual inhabitants is lengthy and expensive, and it requires a large set of skills and tools. These constraints make it increasingly difficult, however not unattainable, for small archaeological sites to build their own simul...

Cultural heritage is a relevant issue in contemporary society. While its preservation is a challenge, its dissemination, can contribute for an economic balance between costs and benefits. Scientific heritage can be considered as a special domain of cultural heritage, not yet sought by the mass tourism, but worth being preserved as the roots of toda...

The use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is widespread nowadays because they are portable, affordable, and offer a diversity of features. This type of equipment supports Augmented Reality (AR) applications, since they have all the necessary characteristics: good processing power, are equipped with cameras, sensors, such as accele...

Creating 3D reconstruction of the past is a challenging task requiring a vast set of technical skills, with teams usually including historians, 3D artists and IT technicians. In this paper, we describe our combined efforts to work under a low-budget pipeline to make a 3D simulation of the medieval village of Mértola in the south of Portugal. The wo...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a Serious Game with the main purpose of inducing attitude changes as a way to prevent bullying, in a target audience of young people between 10 and 12 years old. Design/methodology/approach The rationale for prevention is: first, to help victims of these aggressive episodes to acquire or improve comp...

This paper describes an interactive application conceived to improve non-prescription medicines consultation skills in undergraduate Pharmacy students and a user test carried out with two sets of participants. Resorting to virtual humans that play the role of patients and communicate with the students by speech and by facial and body language, the...

This paper presents a Serious Game with the main purpose of inducing attitude changes as a way to prevent bullying. The target audience are young people between 10 and 12 years old. The rationale for prevention is: first, to help victims of these aggressive episodes to improve behavioral competence to avoid or to deal with future real bullying situ...

We have conceived and developed a Serious Game to promote empathy as a mean to prevent bullying. The tests we carried out with youngsters from the target audience (10 to 12 years old) show that our approach has potential in bullying prevention and as a therapy auxiliary tool. The rationale for bullying prevention is that by helping victims and obse...

Augmented and Virtual Reality approaches are getting more and more advanced and consequently their use in various real world areas is increasing. Medicine is one of the fields in which more practical applications are surfacing, mainly approaches that enable new forms of visualization of data obtained from real patients. Our work focuses on providin...

Virtual Reality in Exposure Therapy allows exposing patients to simulations of feared situations, even in cases where actual exposure is not possible or difficult. We have created a Web application that helps therapists performing this type of therapy when dealing with patients that suffer from anxiety of crossing road tunnels. The application cont...

Bullying is a real and serious problem with severe consequences for the young victims of this phenomenon. Serious Games have proven their effectiveness in therapeutic approaches to problems within the Conflict Resolution domain, thereby revealing a potential to be explored in the mitigation of peer violence in and outside the school. This paper pre...

The evolution of mobile devices and the development of high speed wireless networks have supported a widespread use of these devices with increasingly more complex applications. This reality has fostered the research in the field of information visualization in mobile devices. However, the limited screen space, resource constraints and interaction...

This Virtual patients have been used since the 1990's in pharmacy education for teaching and assessment of clinical and communication skills. Although their use is still limited, they allow students' engagement in true-to-life situations in a controllable environment. This paper describes an interactive application to assist in the academic trainin...

Resumo: O bullying é um problema real e grave que acarreta severas consequências para os jovens que se envolvem ou observam estas situações. Os Jogos Sérios têm dado provas da sua eficácia terapêutica em problemas na área da resolução de conflitos, indicadora de um potencial ainda a explorar em abordagens destinadas a atenuar o problema da agressão...

This paper presents an interactive application to compose music. It aims to give anyone the possibility of creating music from various sounds that can be composed on top of each other to create music of increased complexity. The musical composition is accompanied by a 3D visualization that is intended to serve not only as a guide to the user’s comp...

Social Anxiety affects a significant number of people, limiting their personal and social life. We describe an interactive Virtual Reality approach to the exposure therapy for social anxiety, resorting to virtual characters that exhibit combinations of facial and body expressions controllable in real-time by the therapist. The application described...

Social Anxiety affects a significant number of people, limiting their personal and social life. We describe an interactive Virtual Reality approach to the exposure therapy for social anxiety, resorting to virtual characters that exhibit combinations of facial and body expressions controllable in real-time by the therapist. The application described...

Resumo Este artigo descreve um protótipo de Realidade Virtual destinado ao treino de competências técnicas e de comunicação dos estudantes de Ciências Farmacêuticas. Numa situação simulada, um humano virtual desempenha o papel de um paciente/doente que requer o apoio de um profissional numa farmácia, comunicando com este através de mensagens de tex...

O uso da Realidade Virtual na Terapia de Exposição (RVTE) permite que um paciente seja exposto à situação temida, sem recorrer a uma exposição real o que é particularmente vantajoso quando a reprodução da situação real é dispendiosa ou envolve risco físico. Neste artigo apresentamos uma aplicação Web que apoia o terapeuta no uso da terapia de expos...

Este artigo apresenta uma aplicação que tem como objetivo dar a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de criar música partindo de vários sons, que podem ser progressivamente compostos em níveis crescentes de complexidade. Inspirada no instrumento eletrónico Theremin, a interação será feita de modo a criar ou manipular música de uma forma natural. A compo...

A Ansiedade Social afeta um número significativo de pessoas, limitando-as na vida pessoal e social, e apresentando um nível de comorbilidade elevado com a depressão. Neste artigo descrevemos um projeto que aplica Realidade Virtual, interativa, para a terapia de exposição da Ansiedade Social, recorrendo a Personagens Virtuais exibindo combinações de...

O último observatório de ensino de interesse histórico em Portugal, que data do final do século XIX, é um dos edifícios mais carismáticos dos Museus da Universidade de Lisboa. Após um século de uso intensivo, o Observatório Astronómico da Escola Politécnica necessita de obras estruturais antes de ser devolvido integralmente à fruição pública. Recen...

The last teaching observatory of historical interest in Portugal, from the late 19th century, is one of the most charismatic buildings of the Museums of the University of Lisbon. After 100 years of intense use, the Observatory needs structural restoration before it can be fully returned to public fruition. Recently, a group of students from this Un...

A Realidade Aumentada (RA) tem vindo a atingir grandes desenvolvimentos aplicacionais na última década, em parte devido à expansão da indústria de dispositivos móveis e ao bom compromisso que apresentam entre a por-tabilidade, capacidade de processamento, e recursos de entrada e saída de dados. Neste artigo descrevemos a extensão de uma biblioteca...