Land use / land cover change detection: an object oriented approach, Münster, Germany

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Smart object for 3D interaction

This paper reports on the creation of an interface for 3D virtual environments, computer-aided design applications or computer games. Standard computer interfaces are bound to 2D surfaces, e.g., computer mouses, keyboards, touch pads or touch screens. The Smart Object is intended to provide the user with a 3D interface by using sensors that register movement (inertial measurement unit), touch (touch screen) and voice (microphone). The design and development process as well as the tests and results are presented in this paper. The Smart Object was developed by a team of four third-year engineering students from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities during one semester.

As representações da escola face ao trabalho para casa, no 1.º ciclo do ensino básico

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Extending the learning object definition to represent programming problems

The present generation of eLearning platforms values the interchange of learning objects standards. Nevertheless, for specialized domains these standards are insufficient to fully describe all the assets, especially when they are used as input for other eLearning services. To address this issue we extended an existing learning objects standard to the particular requirements of a specialized domain, namely the automatic evaluation of programming problems. The focus of this paper is the definition of programming problems as learning objects. We introduce a new schema to represent metadata related to automatic evaluation that cannot be conveniently represented using existing standards, such as: the type of automatic evaluation; the requirements of the evaluation engine; or the roles of different assets - tests cases, program solutions, etc. This new schema is being used in an interoperable repository of learning objects, called crimsonHex.

Design of an extensible metadata editor based on RDF

The content of a Learning Object is frequently characterized by metadata from several standards, such as LOM, SCORM and QTI. Specialized domains require new application profiles that further complicate the task of editing the metadata of learning object since their data models are not supported by existing authoring tools. To cope with this problem we designed a metadata editor supporting multiple metadata languages, each with its own data model. It is assumed that the supported languages have an XML binding and we use RDF to create a common metadata representation, independent from the syntax of each metadata languages. The combined data model supported by the editor is defined as an ontology. Thus, the process of extending the editor to support a new metadata language is twofold: firstly, the conversion from the XML binding of the metadata language to RDF and vice-versa; secondly, the extension of the ontology to cover the new metadata model. In this paper we describe the general architecture of the editor, we explain how a typical metadata language for learning objects is represented as an ontology, and how this formalization captures all the data required to generate the graphical user interface of the editor.

Using the Common Cartridge profile to enhance learning content interoperability

The concept of Learning Object (LO) is crucial for the standardization on eLearning. The latest LO standard from IMS Global Learning Consortium is the IMS Common Cartridge (IMS CC) that organizes and distributes digital learning content. By analyzing this new specification we considered two interoperability levels: content and communication. A common content format is the backbone of interoperability and is the basis for content exchange among eLearning systems. Communication is more than just exchanging content; it includes also accessing to specialized systems and services and reporting on content usage. This is particularly important when LOs are used for evaluation. In this paper we analyze the Common Cartridge profile based on the two interoperability levels we proposed. We detail its data model that comprises a set of derived schemata referenced on the CC schema and we explore the use of the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) to allow remote tools and content to be integrated into a Learning Management System (LMS). In order to test the applicability of IMS CC for automatic evaluation we define a representation of programming exercises using this standard. This representation is intended to be the cornerstone of a network of eLearning systems where students can solve computer programming exercises and obtain feedback automatically. The CC learning object is automatically generated based on a XML dialect called PExIL that aims to consolidate all the data need to describe resources within the programming exercise life-cycle. Finally, we test the generated cartridge on the IMS CC online validator to verify its conformance with the IMS CC specification.

Meta-analysis of gender and science research - Country report - Portugal

In Portugal, especially starting in the 1970s, women’s studies had implications on the emergency of the concept of gender and the feminist criticism to the prevailing models about differences between sexes. Until then, women had been absent from scientific research both as subject and as object. Feminism brought more reflexivity to the scientific thinking. After the 25th of April 1974, because of the consequent political openness, several innovating themes of research emerged, together with new concepts and fields of study. However, as far as gender and science relationship is concerned, such studies especially concentrate on higher education institutions. The feminist thinking seems to have two main objectives: to give women visibility, on the one hand, and to denunciate men’s domain in the several fields of knowledge. In 1977, the “Feminine Commission” is created and since then it has been publishing studies on women’s condition and contributing to the enhancement of the reflection of female condition at all levels. In the 1980s, the growing feminisation of tertiary education (both of students and academics), favoured the development of women’s studies, especially on their condition within universities with a special focus on the glass ceiling, despite the lack of statistical data by gender, thus making difficult the analysis of women integration in several sectors, namely in educational and scientific research activities. Other agglutinating themes are family, social and legal condition, work, education, and feminine intervention on political and social movements. In the 1990s, Women Studies are institutionalised in the academic context with the creation of the first Master in Women Studies in the Universidade Aberta (Open University), in Lisbon. In 1999, the first Portuguese journal of women studies is created – “Faces de Eva”. Seminars, conferences, thesis, journals, and projects on women’s studies are more and more common. However, results and publications are not so divulgated as they should be, because of lack of comprehensive and coordinated databases. 2. Analysis by topics 2.1. Horizontal and vertical segregation Research questions It is one of the main areas of research in Portugal. Essentially two issues have been considered: - The analysis of vertical gender segregation in educational and professional fields, having reflexes on women professional career progression with special attention to men’s power in control positions and the glass ceiling. - The analysis of horizontal segregation, special in higher education (teaching and research) where women have less visibility than men, and the under-representation of women in technology and technological careers. Research in this area mainly focuses on description, showing the under-representation of women in certain scientific areas and senior positions. Nevertheless, the studies that analyze horizontal segregation in the field of education adopt a more analytical approach which focuses on the analysis of the mechanisms of reproduction of gender stereotypes, especially socialisation, influencing educational and career choices. 1

Cinema na primeira pessoa: auto-representação e auto reflexividade no documentário contemporâneo: trabalho de projecto

Trabalho de Projeto submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento do Projeto Cinematográfico - especialização em Dramaturgia e Realização.

ECG biometrics using a dissimilarity space representation

Electrocardiogram (ECG) biometrics are a relatively recent trend in biometric recognition, with at least 13 years of development in peer-reviewed literature. Most of the proposed biometric techniques perform classifi-cation on features extracted from either heartbeats or from ECG based transformed signals. The best representation is yet to be decided. This paper studies an alternative representation, a dissimilarity space, based on the pairwise dissimilarity between templates and subjects' signals. Additionally, this representation can make use of ECG signals sourced from multiple leads. Configurations of three leads will be tested and contrasted with single-lead experiments. Using the same k-NN classifier the results proved superior to those obtained through a similar algorithm which does not employ a dissimilarity representation. The best Authentication EER went as low as 1:53% for a database employing 503 subjects. However, the employment of extra leads did not prove itself advantageous.

An ontology-based representation of an agent-based controlled robotic cell

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciência e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Fractional Dynamics Representation in the Pseudo Phase Plane

Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Dynamical Systems Theory and Applications

Formation Control Driven by Cooperative Object Tracking

In this paper we introduce a formation control loop that maximizes the performance of the cooperative perception of a tracked target by a team of mobile robots, while maintaining the team in formation, with a dynamically adjustable geometry which is a function of the quality of the target perception by the team. In the formation control loop, the controller module is a distributed non-linear model predictive controller and the estimator module fuses local estimates of the target state, obtained by a particle filter at each robot. The two modules and their integration are described in detail, including a real-time database associated to a wireless communication protocol that facilitates the exchange of state data while reducing collisions among team members. Simulation and real robot results for indoor and outdoor teams of different robots are presented. The results highlight how our method successfully enables a team of homogeneous robots to minimize the total uncertainty of the tracked target cooperative estimate while complying with performance criteria such as keeping a pre-set distance between the teammates and the target, avoiding collisions with teammates and/or surrounding obstacles.

A framework for supporting knowledge representation – an ontological based approach

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Writing and living on the stage of history

This article studies the intercultural trajectory of a Portuguese female aristocrat of the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. Her trajectory of intercultural transition from a Portuguese provincial lady into an independent owner of a sugar mill in tropical Bahia is documented through family letters, which provide a polyphonic representation of a movement of personal, family, and social transculturation over almost two decades. Maria Bárbara began her journey between cultures as a simple spectator-reader, progressively becoming a commentator-actor-protagonist-author in society, in politics, and in history. These letters function as a translation that is sometimes consecutive, other times simultaneous, of the events lived and witnessed. This concept of intercultural translation is based on the theories of Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2006, 2008), who argues that cultural differences imply that any comparison has to be made using procedures of proportion and correspondence which, taken as a whole, constitute the work of translation itself. These procedures construct approximations of the known to the unknown, of the strange to the familiar, of the ‘other’ to the ‘self’, categories which are always unstable. Likewise, this essay explores the unstable contexts of its object of study, with the purpose of understanding different rationalities and worldviews.