Creation of a web application for smart park system and parking prediction study for system integration

In the last few years, we have observed an exponential increasing of the information systems, and parking information is one more example of them. The needs of obtaining reliable and updated information of parking slots availability are very important in the goal of traffic reduction. Also parking slot prediction is a new topic that has already started to be applied. San Francisco in America and Santander in Spain are examples of such projects carried out to obtain this kind of information. The aim of this thesis is the study and evaluation of methodologies for parking slot prediction and the integration in a web application, where all kind of users will be able to know the current parking status and also future status according to parking model predictions. The source of the data is ancillary in this work but it needs to be understood anyway to understand the parking behaviour. Actually, there are many modelling techniques used for this purpose such as time series analysis, decision trees, neural networks and clustering. In this work, the author explains the best techniques at this work, analyzes the result and points out the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The model will learn the periodic and seasonal patterns of the parking status behaviour, and with this knowledge it can predict future status values given a date. The data used comes from the Smart Park Ontinyent and it is about parking occupancy status together with timestamps and it is stored in a database. After data acquisition, data analysis and pre-processing was needed for model implementations. The first test done was with the boosting ensemble classifier, employed over a set of decision trees, created with C5.0 algorithm from a set of training samples, to assign a prediction value to each object. In addition to the predictions, this work has got measurements error that indicates the reliability of the outcome predictions being correct. The second test was done using the function fitting seasonal exponential smoothing tbats model. Finally as the last test, it has been tried a model that is actually a combination of the previous two models, just to see the result of this combination. The results were quite good for all of them, having error averages of 6.2, 6.6 and 5.4 in vacancies predictions for the three models respectively. This means from a parking of 47 places a 10% average error in parking slot predictions. This result could be even better with longer data available. In order to make this kind of information visible and reachable from everyone having a device with internet connection, a web application was made for this purpose. Beside the data displaying, this application also offers different functions to improve the task of searching for parking. The new functions, apart from parking prediction, were: - Park distances from user location. It provides all the distances to user current location to the different parks in the city. - Geocoding. The service for matching a literal description or an address to a concrete location. - Geolocation. The service for positioning the user. - Parking list panel. This is not a service neither a function, is just a better visualization and better handling of the information.

Integration of a mobile autonomous robot in a surveillance multi-agent system

This dissertation aims to guarantee the integration of a mobile autonomous robot equipped with many sensors in a multi-agent distributed and georeferenced surveillance system. The integration of a mobile autonomous robot in this system leads to new features that will be available to clients of surveillance system may use. These features may be of two types: using the robot as an agent that will act in the environment or by using the robot as a mobile set of sensors. As an agent in the system, the robot can move to certain locations when alerts are received, in order to acknowledge the underlying events or take to action in order to assist in resolving this event. As a sensor platform in the system, it is possible to access information that is read from the sensors of the robot and access complementary measurements to the ones taken by other sensors in the multi-agent system. To integrate this mobile robot in an effective way it is necessary to extend the current multi-agent system architecture to make the connection between the two systems and to integrate the functionalities provided by the robot into the multi-agent system.

Design, implementation, and performance of a distributed and scalable sensor system for critical distance measurements in the CMS detector at LHC

The “CMS Safety Closing Sensors System” (SCSS, or CSS for brevity) is a remote monitoring system design to control safety clearance and tight mechanical movements of parts of the CMS detector, especially during CMS assembly phases. We present the different systems that makes SCSS: its sensor technologies, the readout system, the data acquisition and control software. We also report on calibration and installation details, which determine the resolution and limits of the system. We present as well our experience from the operation of the system and the analysis of the data collected since 2008. Special emphasis is given to study positioning reproducibility during detector assembly and understanding how the magnetic fields influence the detector structure.

Designing and implementing a performance measurement system in Auto Ribeiro, Lda.

In any business it is very important to measure the performance and it helps to select key information to make better decisions on time. This research focuses on the design and implementation of a performance measurement system in a Portuguese medium size firm operating in the specialized health care transformation vehicles industry. From the evidence that outputs from Auto Ribeiro’s current information system is misaligned with the company’s objectives and strategy, this research tries to solve this business problem through the development of a Balanced Scorecard analysis, although there are some issues, which deserve further development.

Prospective system analysis of stationary battery systems under the frame of Constructive Technology Assessment

Based on the report for the unit “Project IV” of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment under the supervision of Dr.-Ing. Marcel Weil and Prof. Dr. António Brandão Moniz. The report was presented and discussed at the Doctorate Conference on Technologogy Assessment in July 2013 at the University Nova Lisboa, Caparica campus.

Walking Through the Revolution: A Spatial Reading of Literary Echoes

This paper presents an embryo of a literary guide on the Carnation Revolution to be explored for educational historical excursions other than leisure and tourism. We propose a historical trail through the centre of Lisbon, city of the Carnation Revolution, called Walk through the Revolution. The trail aims to reinforce collective memory about the major events that occurred in the early moments leading to the coup. The trail is made up by nine places of rememberance, for which literary excerpts are suggested and which are supported by a digital research procedure. A set of seven fixed and observer-independent categories are used to analyse the literary contents of 23 literary works published up to 2013. These literary works refer to events that happened between the eve of April 25 and May 1, 1974. At the same time, literary descriptions are explored using a spatial approach in order to define the literary geography of the most iconic military actions and popular demonstrations that occurred in Lisbon and the surroundings. The literary geography and the cartography of the historical events are then compared. Data analysis and visualization benefit from the use of standardised and quantitative methods, including basic statistics and geographic information systems.

The financial system in Mozambique: Opportunities, barriers and market potential

This research is empirical and exploratory intending to analyse the attractiveness of banking in Mozambique, considering its positive outlook. To identify the opportunities and barriers, the methods adopted were elite interviews with banking executives, complemented by secondary data. The opportunities for new entrants seem to include bankarization and the emergence of micro and smallmedium enterprises; other avenues seem to include investment banking, support of mega-projects (e.g. energy, infrastructures) through syndicates and cooperation with multilaterals, and the participation in developing capital markets. Conversely, the main barriers include shortage of talent, inadequate infrastructures, poverty, unsophisticated entrepreneurial culture (e.g. informal economy, inadequate financial reporting), burdensome bureaucracy (e.g. visas), foreign exchange regulation, as well as low liquidity and high funding costs for banks. The key conclusions suggest a window of opportunity for niche markets, and new products and services in retail and investment banking.

The system of Transfer Pricing in a multinational

Transfer prices are used by the majority of firms worldwide when intermediate products or services are transferred within the same organization. These prices are reported as revenue for the selling entity (division, unit, department etc.) and as cost for the buying entity. Nevertheless, transfer prices lead to many disputes among managers in the same organization as transfer prices influence the performance of their entities. In cross-border transactions, transfer prices can be used by firms to reduce corporate taxes and thus, increase total firm profits. In order to fight against this firms’ practice, tax authorities require firms to establish a transfer pricing system in accordance with OECD1 Transfer Pricing Guidelines.

Using an LED as a sensor and visible light communication device in a smart illumination system

The need for more efficient illumination systems has led to the proliferation of Solid-State Lighting (SSL) systems, which offer optimized power consumption. SSL systems are comprised of LED devices which are intrinsically fast devices and permit very fast light modulation. This, along with the congestion of the radio frequency spectrum has paved the path for the emergence of Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems. VLC uses free space to convey information by using light modulation. Notwithstanding, as VLC systems proliferate and cost competitiveness ensues, there are two important aspects to be considered. State-of-the-art VLC implementations use power demanding PAs, and thus it is important to investigate if regular, existent Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) circuits can be adapted for VLC use. A 28 W buck regulator was implemented using a off-the-shelf LED Driver integrated circuit, using both series and parallel dimming techniques. Results show that optical clock frequencies up to 500 kHz are achievable without any major modification besides adequate component sizing. The use of an LED as a sensor was investigated, in a short-range, low-data-rate perspective. Results show successful communication in an LED-to-LED configuration, with enhanced range when using LED strings as sensors. Besides, LEDs present spectral selective sensitivity, which makes them good contenders for a multi-colour LED-to-LED system, such as in the use of RGB displays and lamps. Ultimately, the present work shows evidence that LEDs can be used as a dual-purpose device, enabling not only illumination, but also bi-directional data communication.

Developing a gamification system to increase customer lifetime value at MyGon

There have never been so many touch points between companies and consumers as there are today, which paradoxically makes it very challenging for companies to be able to retain and engage customers. Gamification is a strategy used by a large number of companies to increase customer engagement and customer lifetime value. This work aims at developing a gamification system for MyGon, a Portuguese startup working in the market of discounts and experiences. In addition to examining the literature concerning gamification, its elements and characteristics, recommendations were developed for addressing MyGon’s business goals of increasing conversion and customer engagement. The gamification mechanisms suggested include badges, missions, points, leaderboards and levels.

Video metadata extraction in a videoMail system

Currently the world swiftly adapts to visual communication. Online services like YouTube and Vine show that video is no longer the domain of broadcast television only. Video is used for different purposes like entertainment, information, education or communication. The rapid growth of today’s video archives with sparsely available editorial data creates a big problem of its retrieval. The humans see a video like a complex interplay of cognitive concepts. As a result there is a need to build a bridge between numeric values and semantic concepts. This establishes a connection that will facilitate videos’ retrieval by humans. The critical aspect of this bridge is video annotation. The process could be done manually or automatically. Manual annotation is very tedious, subjective and expensive. Therefore automatic annotation is being actively studied. In this thesis we focus on the multimedia content automatic annotation. Namely the use of analysis techniques for information retrieval allowing to automatically extract metadata from video in a videomail system. Furthermore the identification of text, people, actions, spaces, objects, including animals and plants. Hence it will be possible to align multimedia content with the text presented in the email message and the creation of applications for semantic video database indexing and retrieving.

Antioxidant extraction process for Andean Oca by a photodiode array detector using response surface methodology

Application of Experimental Design techniques has proven to be essential in various research fields, due to its statistical capability of processing the effect of interactions among independent variables, known as factors, in a system’s response. Advantages of this methodology can be summarized in more resource and time efficient experimentations while providing more accurate results. This research emphasizes the quantification of 4 antioxidants extraction, at two different concentration, prepared according to an experimental procedure and measured by a Photodiode Array Detector. Experimental planning was made following a Central Composite Design, which is a type of DoE that allows to consider the quadratic component in Response Surfaces, a component that includes pure curvature studies on the model produced. This work was executed with the intention of analyzing responses, peak areas obtained from chromatograms plotted by the Detector’s system, and comprehending if the factors considered – acquired from an extensive literary review – produced the expected effect in response. Completion of this work will allow to take conclusions regarding what factors should be considered for the optimization studies of antioxidants extraction in a Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) matrix.

Capital requirements and loan market conditions insight into Portuguese Banking system (2004-2011)

Capital Requirements have been gaining importance in the current macroeconomic and financial environment and Portugal is no exception. Nonetheless, despite the several media articles on this subject, the associations with Loan Market Conditions, namely availability and pricing are still unstudied. Thus, this project adds to the existing literature a characterization of Portuguese four biggest banks on capital reporting and requirements fulfillment. It is concluded that banks under analysis need to increase capital and that there is an association between the variables under study: Share Capital is negatively correlated with Credit Volume, and it is positively correlated with Net Commercial Income.

Exploring Literary Landscapes: From Texts to Spatiotemporal Analysis through Collaborative Work and GIS

This article argues that the study of literary representations of landscapes can be aided and enriched by the application of digital geographic technologies. As an example, the article focuses on the methods and preliminary findings of LITESCAPE.PT—Atlas of Literary Landscapes of Mainland Portugal, an on-going project that aims to study literary representations of mainland Portugal and to explore their connections with social and environmental realities both in the past and in the present. LITESCAPE.PT integrates traditional reading practices and ‘distant reading’ approaches, along with collaborative work, relational databases, and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to classify and analyse excerpts from 350 works of Portuguese literature according to a set of ecological, socioeconomic, temporal and cultural themes. As we argue herein this combination of qualitative and quantitative methods—itself a response to the difficulty of obtaining external funding—can lead to (a) increased productivity, (b) the pursuit of new research goals, and (c) the creation of new knowledge about natural and cultural history. As proof of concept, the article presents two initial outcomes of the LITESCAPE.PT project: a case study documenting the evolving literary geography of Lisbon and a case study exploring the representation of wolves in Portuguese literature.

Instrumental Fado: a generative interactive system

Fado was listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011. This dissertation describes a theoretical model, as well as an automatic system, able to generate instrumental music based on the musics and vocal sounds typically associated with fado’s practice. A description of the phenomenon of fado, its musics and vocal sounds, based on ethnographic, historical sources and empirical data is presented. The data includes the creation of a digital corpus, of musical transcriptions, identified as fado, and statistical analysis via music information retrieval techniques. The second part consists in the formulation of a theory and the coding of a symbolic model, as a proof of concept, for the automatic generation of instrumental music based on the one in the corpus.