Researchers Develop Adaptive Technology for Visually Impaired Engineers From: University of Kansas Daily Headlines - 10/11/2007 By adding features to commonly used chemical-engineering software packages, researchers at the University of Arkansas, the University of Akron and Chemstations Inc. have developed adaptive technology that allows blind or visually impaired students and working professionals to perform the essential functions of chemical-engineering process design. Read the entire article at: http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/11589.htm http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/534225/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071012095826.htm Links: Chemstations http://www.chemstations.net/ Contacts: Bob Beitle Professor of Chemical Engineering Louis Owen Professor of Green Chemical Process Design and Development Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering College of Engineering 479/575-7566 rbeitle@uark.edu http://www.engr.uark.edu/34.htm http://www.cheg.uark.edu/faculty.asp?id=4 Douglas Behrend Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences 479/575-4256 dbehrend@uark.edu Matt McGowan Science and Research Communications Officer University Relations 479/575-4246 dmcgowa@uark.edu Submitted by Gregg Vanderheiden ----- daptive Technology Software Helps Visually Impaired Engineers From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 11/28/2007 By adding features to commonly used chemical-engineering software packages, researchers at the University of Arkansas, the University of Akron, and Chemstations Inc. have developed adaptive technology that allows blind or visually impaired students and working professionals to perform the essential functions of chemical-engineering process design. The team created a system that combines tactile, Braille-like representations that can be "read" by visually impaired chemical engineers. The system also includes an audio, screen-reading component and audible indicators of certain software functions. Researchers have also overcome a major obstacle associated with the user function of dragging and dropping or copying and pasting. A tablet computer with a customized overlay, a tablet pen functioning as a computer mouse, and alignment holes mapped to the tactile objects help facilitate the drag-and-drop function, which is the method that connects the system operations. The team converted GUIs into TUIs (tactile user interfaces). The system includes a TabletPC that simulates a notepad and a pen-based mouse. Most importantly, the system uses custom-made tactiles - small objects embossed with patterns that represent various GUI icons that symbolize parts, such as valves, pumps, and reactors - and an overlay that is placed on the screen. The tactiles adhere to the overlay. Alignment holes on the tactiles allow users to place them at desired locations on the overlay and thus build process-flow diagrams. Read the entire article at: http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/11589.htm