Marian Vlăduţ Toma

Dr. Marian Vlăduţ Toma

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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19 February 2024 in JMIR Serious Games
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
MTMarian Vlăduţ Toma
Marian Vlăduţ Toma
CTCristina Elena Turcu
Cristina Elena Turcu
CTCorneliu Octavian TURCU
Corneliu Octavian TURCU
SVSorin Vlad
Sorin Vlad
DTDoru Eugen Tiliute
Doru Eugen Tiliute
PPPaul Pascu
Paul Pascu
Background: The increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has driven research interest on the therapy of individuals with autism, especially children, as early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can lead to improvement in the condition. With the widespread availability of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality technologies to the public and the increasing popularity of mobile devices, the interest in the use of applications and technologies to provide support for the therapy of children with autism is growing. Objective: This study aims to describe the literature on the potential of virtual reality, AR, and mixed reality technologies in the context of therapy for children with ASD. We propose to investigate and analyze the temporal distribution of relevant papers, identify the target audience for studies related to extended reality apps in ASD therapy, examine the technologies used in the development of these apps, assess the skills targeted for improvement in primary studies, explore the purposes of the proposed solutions, and summarize the results obtained from their application. Methods: For the systematic literature review, 6 research questions were defined in the first phase, after which 5 international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and ACM Digital Library) were searched using specific search strings. Results were centralized, filtered, and processed applying eligibility criteria and using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The results were refined using a technical and IT-oriented approach. The quality criteria assessed whether the research addressed ASDs, focused on children’s therapy, involved targeted technologies, deployed solutions on mobile devices, and produced results relevant to our study. Results: In the first step, 179 publications were identified in Zotero reference manager software (Corporation for Digital Scholarship). After excluding articles that did not meet the eligibility or quality assessment criteria, 28 publications were finalized. The analysis revealed an increase in publications related to apps for children with autism starting in 2015 and peaking in 2019. Most studies (22/28, 79%) focused on mobile AR solutions for Android devices, which were developed using the Unity 3D platform and the Vuforia engine. Although 68% (19/28) of these apps were tested with children, 32% (9/28) were tested exclusively by developers. More than half (15/28, 54%) of the studies used interviews as an evaluation method, yielding mostly favorable although preliminary results, indicating the need for more extensive testing. Conclusions: The findings reported in the studies highlight the fact that these technologies are appropriate for the therapy of children with ASD. Several studies showed a distinct trend toward the use of AR technology as an educational tool for people with ASD. This trend entails multidisciplinary cooperation and an integrated research approach, with an emphasis on comprehensive empirical evaluations and technology ethics.

1 June 2024 in Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Ruxandra BejinaruRuxandra Bejinaru
Ruxandra Bejinaru
MTMarian Vlăduţ Toma
Marian Vlăduţ Toma
This paper aims to investigate the impact of emerging technologies such as microlearning, Business Process Modelling (BPM) and Robotic Process Automation on business operations. In the first part, we did a literature review and defined the key concepts underlying these technologies. Microlearning caters to the modern learner by offering short, effective learning bursts that align well with the fast pace of today's work environments. BPM accelerates the process of delivering learning content specific to microlearning modules by optimizing specific workflow. RPA contributes by automating routine tasks using bots, improving the learning experience by providing instant materials, support and feedback. In the second part, we conducted a bibliometric research with the help of VOSViewer, focusing on an analysis of the co-occurrence of keywords specific to the 3 technologies, highlighting research trends and patterns, the impact of research in terms of citation analysis, but also research gaps on a topic. A future perspective was outlined for the implementation of these technologies in business environments, analyzing their impact and presented a section with case studies, highlighting common challenges and offering possible solutions. Summarizing all this, it can be said that the synergy between these 3 technologies has obvious advantages such as increasing productivity, optimizing administrative processes, reducing costs, and improving learning experiences, but it can also pose implementation problems specific to adopting new technologies in a constantly changing environment.

13 June 2023 in JMIR Preprints
Verified
Preprint
Open access
MTMarian Vlăduţ Toma
Marian Vlăduţ Toma
CTCristina Elena Turcu
Cristina Elena Turcu
CTCorneliu Octavian TURCU
Corneliu Octavian TURCU
SVSorin Vlad
Sorin Vlad
DTDoru Eugen Tiliute
Doru Eugen Tiliute
PPPaul Pascu
Paul Pascu
BACKGROUND The increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has driven research interest on the therapy of individuals with autism, especially children, as early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can lead to improvement in the condition. With the widespread availability of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality technologies to the public and the increasing popularity of mobile devices, the interest in the use of applications and technologies to provide support for the therapy of children with autism is growing. OBJECTIVE This study aims to describe the literature on the potential of virtual reality, AR, and mixed reality technologies in the context of therapy for children with ASD. We propose to investigate and analyze the temporal distribution of relevant papers, identify the target audience for studies related to extended reality apps in ASD therapy, examine the technologies used in the development of these apps, assess the skills targeted for improvement in primary studies, explore the purposes of the proposed solutions, and summarize the results obtained from their application. METHODS For the systematic literature review, 6 research questions were defined in the first phase, after which 5 international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and ACM Digital Library) were searched using specific search strings. Results were centralized, filtered, and processed applying eligibility criteria and using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The results were refined using a technical and IT-oriented approach. The quality criteria assessed whether the research addressed ASDs, focused on children’s therapy, involved targeted technologies, deployed solutions on mobile devices, and produced results relevant to our study. RESULTS In the first step, 179 publications were identified in Zotero reference manager software (Corporation for Digital Scholarship). After excluding articles that did not meet the eligibility or quality assessment criteria, 28 publications were finalized. The analysis revealed an increase in publications related to apps for children with autism starting in 2015 and peaking in 2019. Most studies (22/28, 79%) focused on mobile AR solutions for Android devices, which were developed using the Unity 3D platform and the Vuforia engine. Although 68% (19/28) of these apps were tested with children, 32% (9/28) were tested exclusively by developers. More than half (15/28, 54%) of the studies used interviews as an evaluation method, yielding mostly favorable although preliminary results, indicating the need for more extensive testing. CONCLUSIONS The findings reported in the studies highlight the fact that these technologies are appropriate for the therapy of children with ASD. Several studies showed a distinct trend toward the use of AR technology as an educational tool for people with ASD. This trend entails multidisciplinary cooperation and an integrated research approach, with an emphasis on comprehensive empirical evaluations and technology ethics.

1 June 2024 in Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Ruxandra BejinaruRuxandra Bejinaru
Ruxandra Bejinaru
MTMarian Vlăduţ Toma
Marian Vlăduţ Toma
Facilitating access to advanced education and research is the mission of a proactive and future-oriented university. The university must also direct its attention to categories with disabilities such as students with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders). For this purpose, Augmented Reality (AR) can be used through applications that offer different types of support, as well as learning robotization processes. Students with ASD have diverse intellectual potential and can significantly contribute to scientific progress. It is important that universities recognize the intellectual potential and talent of students with ASD and provide appropriate support and accessibility to develop their skills and achieve their academic and research performance. Throughout this paper, we aimed to point out aspects of critical importance from these categories: conceptual and practical evolution, influencing factors, advantages and difficulties, perspectives but also risks regarding the lack of action in this direction. This work integrates qualitative literature review research with empirical research. The literature analysis section highlights the extent to which universities provide adaptation and orientation facilities in new spaces, taking into account the difficulty of people with ASD to adjust to unfamiliar spaces. We will present, both based on the literature and from the practice of the field at a global level, the technologies and platforms used in the development of AR applications for orientation in space. The research conclusions have an impact towards at least three directions: 1. Scientific impact, respectively enriching the specialized literature with new perspectives transmitted in a clear, concise and targeted manner; 2. Applicative impact, increasing the potential of implementing innovations in this field; as well as 3. Informative impact on the general public, which contributes to broadening the spectrum of knowledge but also to strengthening the image in the local community of the efforts made by researchers in this revolutionary field of AR.