Vision-based hand Wheel-chair control

Several studies have shown that people with disabilities benefit substantially from access to a means of independent mobility and assistive technology. Researchers are using technology originally developed for mobile robots to create easier to use wheelchairs. With this kind of technology people with disabilities can gain a degree of independence in performing daily life activities. In this work a computer vision system is presented, able to drive a wheelchair with a minimum number of finger commands. The user hand is detected and segmented with the use of a kinect camera, and fingertips are extracted from depth information, and used as wheelchair commands.

Hand gesture recognition system based in computer vision and machine learning

"Lecture notes in computational vision and biomechanics series, ISSN 2212-9391, vol. 19"

IEA EBC Annex56 vision for cost effective energy and carbon emissions optimization in building renovation

Building sector has become an important target for carbon emissions reduction, energy consumption and resources depletion. Due to low rates of replacement of the existing buildings, their low energy performances are a major concern. Most of the current regulations are focused on new buildings and do not account with the several technical, functional and economic constraints that have to be faced in the renovation of existing buildings. Thus, a new methodology is proposed to be used in the decision making process for energy related building renovation, allowing finding a cost-effective balance between energy consumption, carbon emissions and overall added value.

Descrição e reflexão sobre um percurso profissional

Relatório de atividade profissional de mestrado em Ensino da Música

Generic system for human-computer gesture interaction: applications on sign language recognition and robotic soccer refereeing

Hand gestures are a powerful way for human communication, with lots of potential applications in the area of human computer interaction. Vision-based hand gesture recognition techniques have many proven advantages compared with traditional devices, giving users a simpler and more natural way to communicate with electronic devices. This work proposes a generic system architecture based in computer vision and machine learning, able to be used with any interface for human-computer interaction. The proposed solution is mainly composed of three modules: a pre-processing and hand segmentation module, a static gesture interface module and a dynamic gesture interface module. The experiments showed that the core of visionbased interaction systems could be the same for all applications and thus facilitate the implementation. For hand posture recognition, a SVM (Support Vector Machine) model was trained and used, able to achieve a final accuracy of 99.4%. For dynamic gestures, an HMM (Hidden Markov Model) model was trained for each gesture that the system could recognize with a final average accuracy of 93.7%. The proposed solution as the advantage of being generic enough with the trained models able to work in real-time, allowing its application in a wide range of human-machine applications. To validate the proposed framework two applications were implemented. The first one is a real-time system able to interpret the Portuguese Sign Language. The second one is an online system able to help a robotic soccer game referee judge a game in real time.

Vision-based portuguese sign language recognition system

Vision-based hand gesture recognition is an area of active current research in computer vision and machine learning. Being a natural way of human interaction, it is an area where many researchers are working on, with the goal of making human computer interaction (HCI) easier and natural, without the need for any extra devices. So, the primary goal of gesture recognition research is to create systems, which can identify specific human gestures and use them, for example, to convey information. For that, vision-based hand gesture interfaces require fast and extremely robust hand detection, and gesture recognition in real time. Hand gestures are a powerful human communication modality with lots of potential applications and in this context we have sign language recognition, the communication method of deaf people. Sign lan- guages are not standard and universal and the grammars differ from country to coun- try. In this paper, a real-time system able to interpret the Portuguese Sign Language is presented and described. Experiments showed that the system was able to reliably recognize the vowels in real-time, with an accuracy of 99.4% with one dataset of fea- tures and an accuracy of 99.6% with a second dataset of features. Although the im- plemented solution was only trained to recognize the vowels, it is easily extended to recognize the rest of the alphabet, being a solid foundation for the development of any vision-based sign language recognition user interface system.

Industrial engineering and management curriculum profile: Developing a framework of competences

This paper presents a framework of competences developed for Industrial Engineering and Management that can be used as a tool for curriculum analysis and design, including the teaching and learning processes as well as the alignment of the curriculum with the professional profile. The framework was applied to the Industrial Engineering and Management program at University of Minho (UMinho), Portugal, and it provides an overview of the connection between IEM knowledge areas and the competences defined in its curriculum. The framework of competences was developed through a process of analysis using a combination of methods and sources for data collection. The framework was developed according to four main steps: 1) characterization of IEM knowledge areas; 2) definition of IEM competences; 3) survey; 4) application of the framework at the IEM curriculum. The findings showed that the framework is useful to build an integrated vision of the curriculum. The most visible aspect in the learning outcomes of IEM program is the lack of balance between technical and transversal competences. There was not almost any reference to the transversal competences and it is fundamentally concentrated on Project-Based Learning courses. The framework presented in this paper provides a contribution to the definition of IEM professional profile through a set of competences which need to be explored further. In addition, it may be a relevant tool for IEM curriculum analysis and a contribution for bridging the gap between universities and companies.

Para uma semiótica da luz. Da visão mítica aos regimes escópicos da contemporaneidade

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Comunicação

Inovação como fator de competitividade da cadeia de valor da moda

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Têxtil

Da prova: na atuação policial e no âmbito da infração tributária

Relatório de atividade profissional de mestrado em Direito Judiciário

A aplicação do LibQual aos utilizadores das bibliotecas dos Serviços de Documentação da Universidade do Minho: dados de 2015

No período de 16 a 30 de novembro de 2015, os Serviços de Documentação da Universidade do Minho realizaram um inquérito por questionário aos utilizadores das suas bibliotecas: Biblioteca Geral da Universidade do Minho (U.M.) em Gualtar (BGUM), Biblioteca da U.M. em Guimarães (BPG), Biblioteca da Escola de Ciências da Saúde (BECS) e Biblioteca Nuno Portas (BNP). Dado que se pretendia avaliar a satisfação dos utilizadores das bibliotecas da Universidade do Minho, o questionário aplicado foi o LibQual, adaptação do ServQual ao contexto das bibliotecas e utilizado por muitas em todo o mundo. Este questionário utiliza uma escala de 1 a 9 (valor mínimo, valor observado e valor desejado) e avalia os serviços por dimensões (valor afetivo do serviço, biblioteca como espaço e controlo da informação) e adequação do serviço (adequação do serviço, superioridade do serviço). O questionário foi disponibilizado via web através do sistema LimeSurvey e o acesso ao mesmo exigiu autenticação. As respostas obtidas foram exportadas para Excel.

A aplicação de um questionário sobre a qualidade do atendimento aos utilizadores das bibliotecas dos Serviços de Documentação da Universidade do Minho: dados de 2015

No período de 16 a 30 de novembro de 2015, os Serviços de Documentação da Universidade do Minho realizaram um inquérito por questionário aos utilizadores das suas bibliotecas: Biblioteca Geral da Universidade do Minho (U.M.) em Gualtar (BGUM), Biblioteca da U.M. em Guimarães (BPG), Biblioteca da Escola de Ciências da Saúde (BECS) e Biblioteca Nuno Portas. Dado que se pretendia avaliar a qualidade do atendimento, a aplicação do questionário foi feita por amostra aleatória nos balcões de atendimento das referidas bibliotecas. Após atos de atendimento, os funcionários dos respetivos balcões enviaram o questionário online aos utilizadores solicitando a sua colaboração. O questionário foi disponibilizado via web através do sistema LimeSurvey e o acesso ao mesmo exigiu autenticação. As respostas obtidas foram exportadas para Excel.

Um modelo para a gestão do conhecimento organizacional no contexto dos serviços partilhados com recurso à utilização do e-Learning

Tese de Doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação

Portuguese publication in the aim of regional science: a study of articles published in RPER from 2003 to 2015

This paper is a study of the full content of articles published by RPER, the Portuguese Review of Regional Studies, from the time it was launched in 2003 until the first quarter of 2015. RPER is a journal edited by the Portuguese section of the European Regional Science Association, which was established in the first half of the 1980s. The Association (APDR) and the journal are the result of contributions by researchers and technicians from different scientific fields, including mainly Economics, Geography, Sociology, Engineering and Architecture. The main focus of these contributions is the socio-economic life of concrete sites, and the way this life is conditioned by resources and capabilities, the historical and cultural heritage and institutions. Content analysis was undertaken to identify the main subjects chosen during the total period under analysis, the nature of the articles published (theoretical or empirical) and the main analytical framework used. The analysis also covers sub-periods to investigate major trends found in terms of subjects chosen and analytical methods, questioning the rationale behind them. The paper concludes with a few notes regarding the social echo the research received and an identification of the main limitations of the research. In the first part of the article, we conduct a summary review of the genesis and evolution of Regional Science at international level to serve as a basis for the empirical approach developed.