MODELING OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR WINE TRACEABILITY BASED ON A SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

The purpose is to present a scientific research that led to the modeling of an information system which aimed at the maintenance of traceability data in the Brazilian wine industry, according to the principles of a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Since 2005, traceability data maintenance is an obligation for all producers that intend to export to any European Union country. Also, final customers, including the Brazilian ones, have been asking for information about food products. A solution that collectively contemplated the industry was sought in order to permit that producer consortiums of associations could share the costs and benefits of such a solution. Following an extensive bibliographic review, a series of interviews conducted with Brazilian researchers and wine producers in Bento Goncalves - RS, Brazil, elucidated many aspects associated with the wine production process. Information technology issues related to the theme were also researched. The software was modeled with the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and uses web services for data exchange. A model for the wine production process was also proposed. A functional prototype showed that the adopted model is able to fulfill the demands of wine producers. The good results obtained lead us to consider the use of this model in other domains.

Multiresolution spatial databases: Making web-based spatial applications faster

Spatial data has now been used extensively in the Web environment, providing online customized maps and supporting map-based applications. The full potential of Web-based spatial applications, however, has yet to be achieved due to performance issues related to the large sizes and high complexity of spatial data. In this paper, we introduce a multiresolution approach to spatial data management and query processing such that the database server can choose spatial data at the right resolution level for different Web applications. One highly desirable property of the proposed approach is that the server-side processing cost and network traffic can be reduced when the level of resolution required by applications are low. Another advantage is that our approach pushes complex multiresolution structures and algorithms into the spatial database engine. That is, the developer of spatial Web applications needs not to be concerned with such complexity. This paper explains the basic idea, technical feasibility and applications of multiresolution spatial databases.

Use of Performance Measurement in the Public Sector: the case of the police service

Many public organisations have been under great pressure in recent years to increase the efficiency and transparency of outputs, to rationalise the use of public resources, and to increase the quality of service delivery. In this context, public organisations were encouraged to introduce the New Public Management reforms with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance organisation through a new public management model. This new public management model is based on measurement by outputs and outcomes, a clear definition of responsibilities, the transparency and accountability of governmental activities, and on a greater value for citizens. What type of performance measurement systems are used in police services? Based on the literature, we see that multidimensional models, such as the Balanced Scorecard, are important in many public organisations, like municipalities, universities, and hospitals. Police services are characterised by complex, diverse objectives and stakeholders. Therefore, performance measurement of these public services calls for a specific analysis. Based on a nationwide survey of all police chiefs of the Portuguese police force, we find that employee performance measurement is the main form of measurement. Also, we propose a strategic map for the Portuguese police service.

GuideMe: service for consulting, publication and recommendation of touristic locations

Trabalho de Projeto realizado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores

Benchmarking de uma aproximação de ticketing as a service (Taas)

Dissertação de natureza científica realizada para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Redes de Computadores e Multimédia

Design and implementation of a behaviorally typed programming system for web services

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática.

Spatial operators for collaborative map handling

MSC Dissertation in Computer Engineering

Remote experimentation network - yielding an inter-university peer-to-peer e-service

The goal of this paper is to discuss the benefits and challenges of yielding an inter-continental network of remote laboratories supported and used by both European and Latin American Institutions of Higher Education. Since remote experimentation, understood as the ability to carry out real-world experiments through a simple Web browser, is already a proven solution for the educational community as a supplement to on-site practical lab work (and in some cases, namely for distance learning courses, a replacement to that work), the purpose is not to discuss its technical, pedagogical, or economical strengths, but rather to raise and try to answer some questions about the underlying benefits and challenges of establishing a peer-to-peer network of remote labs. Ultimately, we regard such a network as a constructive mechanism to help students gain the working and social skills often valued by multinational/global companies, while also providing awareness of local cultural aspects.

Bridging the gap between closed and open data. System proposal for the Portuguese Legislation

Esta dissertação apresenta uma proposta de sistema capaz de preencher a lacuna entre documentos legislativos em formato PDF e documentos legislativos em formato aberto. O objetivo principal é mapear o conhecimento presente nesses documentos de maneira a representar essa coleção como informação interligada. O sistema é composto por vários componentes responsáveis pela execução de três fases propostas: extração de dados, organização de conhecimento, acesso à informação. A primeira fase propõe uma abordagem à extração de estrutura, texto e entidades de documentos PDF de maneira a obter a informação desejada, de acordo com a parametrização do utilizador. Esta abordagem usa dois métodos de extração diferentes, de acordo com as duas fases de processamento de documentos – análise de documento e compreensão de documento. O critério utilizado para agrupar objetos de texto é a fonte usada nos objetos de texto de acordo com a sua definição no código de fonte (Content Stream) do PDF. A abordagem está dividida em três partes: análise de documento, compreensão de documento e conjunção. A primeira parte da abordagem trata da extração de segmentos de texto, adotando uma abordagem geométrica. O resultado é uma lista de linhas do texto do documento; a segunda parte trata de agrupar os objetos de texto de acordo com o critério estipulado, produzindo um documento XML com o resultado dessa extração; a terceira e última fase junta os resultados das duas fases anteriores e aplica regras estruturais e lógicas no sentido de obter o documento XML final. A segunda fase propõe uma ontologia no domínio legal capaz de organizar a informação extraída pelo processo de extração da primeira fase. Também é responsável pelo processo de indexação do texto dos documentos. A ontologia proposta apresenta três características: pequena, interoperável e partilhável. A primeira característica está relacionada com o facto da ontologia não estar focada na descrição pormenorizada dos conceitos presentes, propondo uma descrição mais abstrata das entidades presentes; a segunda característica é incorporada devido à necessidade de interoperabilidade com outras ontologias do domínio legal, mas também com as ontologias padrão que são utilizadas geralmente; a terceira característica é definida no sentido de permitir que o conhecimento traduzido, segundo a ontologia proposta, seja independente de vários fatores, tais como o país, a língua ou a jurisdição. A terceira fase corresponde a uma resposta à questão do acesso e reutilização do conhecimento por utilizadores externos ao sistema através do desenvolvimento dum Web Service. Este componente permite o acesso à informação através da disponibilização de um grupo de recursos disponíveis a atores externos que desejem aceder à informação. O Web Service desenvolvido utiliza a arquitetura REST. Uma aplicação móvel Android também foi desenvolvida de maneira a providenciar visualizações dos pedidos de informação. O resultado final é então o desenvolvimento de um sistema capaz de transformar coleções de documentos em formato PDF para coleções em formato aberto de maneira a permitir o acesso e reutilização por outros utilizadores. Este sistema responde diretamente às questões da comunidade de dados abertos e de Governos, que possuem muitas coleções deste tipo, para as quais não existe a capacidade de raciocinar sobre a informação contida, e transformá-la em dados que os cidadãos e os profissionais possam visualizar e utilizar.

Integrating the LMS in service oriented e-learning systems

Learning management systems are routinely used for presenting, solving and grading exercises with large classes. However, teachers are constrained to use questions with pre-defined answers, such as multiple-choice, to automatically correct the exercises of their students. Complex exercises cannot be evaluated automatically by the LMS and require the coordination of a set of heterogeneous systems. For instance, programming exercises require a specialized exercise resolution environment and automatic evaluation features, each provided by a different type of system. In this paper, the authors discuss an approach for the coordination of a network of eLearning systems supporting the resolution of exercises. The proposed approach is based on a pivot component embedded in the LMS and has two main roles: 1) provide an exercise resolution environment, and 2) coordinate communication between the LMS and other systems, exposing their functions as web services. The integration of the pivot component in the LMS relies on Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). This paper presents an architecture to coordinate a network of eLearning systems and validate the proposed approach by creating such a network integrated with LMS from two different vendors.

Using the learning tools interoperability framework for LMS integration in service oriented architectures

The LMS plays an indisputable role in the majority of the eLearning environments. This eLearning system type is often used for presenting, solving and grading simple exercises. However, exercises from complex domains, such as computer programming, require heterogeneous systems such as evaluation engines, learning objects repositories and exercise resolution environments. The coordination of networks of such disparate systems is rather complex. This work presents a standard approach for the coordination of a network of eLearning systems supporting the resolution of exercises. The proposed approach use a pivot component embedded in the LMS with two roles: provide an exercise resolution environment and coordinate the communication between the LMS and other systems exposing their functions as web services. The integration of the pivot component with the LMS relies on the Learning Tools Interoperability. The validation of this approach is made through the integration of the component with LMSs from two vendors.

Using mobile device detection approaches to augment the accuracy of web delivery content

Recent studies of mobile Web trends show a continuous explosion of mobile-friendly content. However, the increasing number and heterogeneity of mobile devices poses several challenges for Web programmers who want to automatically get the delivery context and adapt the content to mobile devices. In this process, the devices detection phase assumes an important role where an inaccurate detection could result in a poor mobile experience for the enduser. In this paper we compare the most promising approaches for mobile device detection. Based on this study, we present an architecture for a system to detect and deliver uniform m-Learning content to students in a Higher School. We focus mainly on the devices capabilities repository manageable and accessible through an API. We detail the structure of the capabilities XML Schema that formalizes the data within the devices capabilities XML repository and the REST Web Service API for selecting the correspondent devices capabilities data according to a specific request. Finally, we validate our approach by presenting the access and usage statistics of the mobile web interface of the proposed system such as hits and new visitors, mobile platforms, average time on site and rejection rate.

An internet DGPS service for precise outdoor navigation

The goal of the work presented in this paper is to provide mobile platforms within our campus with a GPS based data service capable of supporting precise outdoor navigation. This can be achieved by providing campus-wide access to real time Differential GPS (DGPS) data. As a result, we designed and implemented a three-tier distributed system that provides Internet data links between remote DGPS sources and the campus and a campus-wide DGPS data dissemination service. The Internet data link service is a two-tier client/server where the server-side is connected to the DGPS station and the client-side is located at the campus. The campus-wide DGPS data provider disseminates the DGPS data received at the campus via the campus Intranet and via a wireless data link. The wireless broadcast is intended for portable receivers equipped with a DGPS wireless interface and the Intranet link is provided for receivers with a DGPS serial interface. The application is expected to provide adequate support for accurate outdoor campus navigation tasks.

Collaborative web applications

Trabalho apresentado no âmbito do Mestrado em Engenharia Informática, como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Localização da página web da VisionSpace – do inglês ao francês

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Tradução e Interpretação Especializadas, sob orientação do Doutor Manuel Moreira da Silva e coorientação da Mestre Isabelle Tulekian