Abstract
In this work it is presented a system to help the users to maintain an active lifestyle. Our main objective is to evaluate the current mobile technologies for the development of systems to monitor the users' health and to promote a healthy lifestyle. It was developed a full system, including: an application for smartwatch; an application for smartphone; a back-end with a webservice in PHP. The application provides the functionalities to acquire the user's: heart rate; location, based on the GPS position; the number of steps; the position's elevation; etc. The back-end is used to register the data acquired and processed by the applications. The design was user centric and the development methodology was based on the agile paradigm, for which are described three development iterations.

Abstract
Deaf people face serious communication problems. The use of smartphones has been explored as a solution for breaking communication barriers and enhancing their communication, by providing access to basic services. This paper explores the usage of iconographic interfaces in smartphones as a means for contributing to further autonomy for deaf people. We applied the model for asynchronous and non-verbal communication through iconographic and interactive flows to develop the MyCarMobile application, a travel assistance android mobile application for deaf people. Our research explores a solution which enables travel assistance services without involving audio, using an iconographic interface to report road accidents. A user centered design approach was applied in the development of the prototype and usability tests were performed with eleven deaf users, in order to validate the mobile application. The results revealed a good performance and user satisfaction when interacting with the application.

Abstract
This paper presents a study on the evolution of digital skills of a group of people with intellectual disabilities, when performing tasks such as painting, making puzzles, playing games, or word search. For the effect, we compare results in two assessment moments: in the first one, the group with intellectual disabilities had little or no experience as regards as performing universal tasks (selection, manipulation and navigation) and with the Web; in the second one, the group had some experience obtained within the 6 months after the first assessment moment. We aimed at evaluating the evolution of their digital skills by comparing the two assessment moments through the following usability variables: successful conclusion of activities, type of difficulties found, errors, satisfaction, motivation and autonomy indicators. The results revealed that participants showed learning skills when performing all the three universal tasks (namely: selection, manipulation and navigation) which is indicated by the number of participants that was able to conclude the activities, also confirmed by the prominent results of the second assessment moment. When it comes to errors, they made more errors in the first assessment moment, in general. When handling the input devices the participants had a better performance with the mouse than the keyboard. On the other hand, they improved their keyboard handling. However, it was observed that it is not a device that they can be autonomous with due to their reading/writing difficulties, which itself represents a didactic challenge when it comes to the very presentation of appropriate methodologies and techniques that may help them overcome such problem.

Abstract
Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence when performing daily tasks and it enhances their overall quality of life. Visual information is the basis for most navigational tasks, so visually impaired individuals are at disadvantage due to the lack of sufficient information about their surrounding environment. With recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual disabilities in terms of their mobility. In this context we present and describe a wearable system (Blavigator project), whose global objective is to assist visually impaired people in their navigation on indoor and outdoor environments. This paper is focused mainly on the Computer Vision module of the Blavigator prototype. We propose an object collision detection algorithm based on stereo vision. The proposed algorithm uses Peano-Hilbert Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (PHEEMD) for disparity image processing and a two layer disparity image segmentation to detect nearby objects. Using the adaptive ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) image analysis real time is not achieved, with PH-EEMD results on a fast implementation suitable for real time applications.

Abstract

Abstract
People with visual impairments face serious challenges while moving from one place to another. This is a difficult challenge that involves obstacle avoidance, staying on street walks, finding doors, knowing the current location and keeping on track through the desired course, until the destination is reached. While assistive technology has contributed to the improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities, people with visual impairment still face enormous limitations in terms of their mobility. There is still an enormous lack of availability of information that can be used to assist them, as well as a lack of sufficient precision in terms of the estimation of the user's location. This paper proposes an infrastructure to assist the estimation of the user's location with high precision using Radio Frequency Identification, providing seamless availability of location based services for the blind, whether indoor or outdoor. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.