Modelling a network of heterogeneous e-learning systems

In recent years emerged several initiatives promoted by educational organizations to adapt Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) to e-learning. These initiatives commonly named eLearning Frameworks share a common goal: to create flexible learning environments by integrating heterogeneous systems already available in many educational institutions. However, these frameworks were designed for integration of systems participating in business like processes rather than on complex pedagogical processes as those related to automatic evaluation. Consequently, their knowledge bases lack some fundamental components that are needed to model pedagogical processes. The objective of the research described in this paper is to study the applicability of eLearning frameworks for modelling a network of heterogeneous eLearning systems, using the automatic evaluation of programming exercises as a case study. The paper surveys the existing eLearning frameworks to justify the selection of the e-Framework. This framework is described in detail and identified the necessary components missing from its knowledge base, more precisely, a service genre, expression and usage model for an evaluation service. The extensibility of the framework is tested with the definition of this service. A concrete model for evaluation of programming exercises is presented as a validation of the proposed approach.

JSON on Mobile: is there an efficient parser?

The two largest causes for battery consumption on mobile devices are related with the display and network operations. Since most application need to share data and communicate with remote servers, communications should be as lightweight and efficient as possible. In network communication, serialization plays a central role as the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes. One of the most popular data-interchange format is JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). This paper presents a survey on JSON parsers in mobile scenarios. The aim of the survey is to find the most efficient JSON parser in mobile communications characterised by high transfer rate of small amounts of data. In the performance benchmark we compare the time required to read and write data with several popular JSON parser implementations such as Gson, Jackson, org.json and others. The results of this survey are important for others that need to select an efficient parser for mobile communication.

The potential benefits of using videos in higher education

The developments of digital technology have opened new outlooks for online education which offer students the flexibility to learn at any time and any place. With all this instructional changes teachers, in all levels of the educational chain have been compelled to adapt quickly to this reality. They have a wide diversity of tools available to grab student’s attention and to motivate them to embrace the knowledge in their own learning process. One of these resources is the use of videos. Through them teachers can deliver complex information and contents to students and, if used creatively, videos can become a powerful technological tool in education. In this article we will explore some of the potential benefits and challenges associated with the use of videos in the teaching and learning process at higher education levels. We will also discuss some thoughts and examples for the use of teaching materials to enhance student’s learning and try to share ideas about the potentialities and future of video’s annotation new software resources, as incoming open tools for group work involvement.

Design and implementation of an autonomous, proactive, and reactive software infrastructure to help improving the management level of projects

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

Auditorias de energia em instalações industriais do setor automóvel

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Controlo de um sistema domótico KNX

Esta dissertação descreve o estudo, concepção e desenvolvimento de uma aplicação baseada no sistema operativo Windows 8 que interage com um sistema domótico KNX, permitindo ao utilizador controlar a sua instalação domótica. Esta proposta, que combina a área de integração/instalação de sistemas domóticos e a de desenvolvimento de aplicações para Windows 8 e Windows 8 Phone, constitui um desafio particularmente interessante para quem tem experiência profissional nas duas áreas. A domótica surgiu na década de 70 como uma aplicação da eletrónica e das tecnologias da informação às instalações residenciais, comerciais e industriais. Esta nova área desencadeou uma revolução, não só, ao nível da produção e comercialização, mas, também, do ponto de vista do utilizador, ao promover a comodidade, segurança, personalização e o controlo de pessoas e bens. Os smartphones e tablets vieram permitir que o desenvolvimento de aplicações móveis de interacção com os sistemas domóticos. Ao longo desta dissertação são descritas e analisadas as múltiplas áreas de intervenção da domótica assim como as diferentes tecnologias de aplicação e mercados. Também são analisados os sistemas operativos que existentes, as respetivas cotas de mercado e os tipos de dispositivos disponíveis. Por último, a aplicação foi concebida, implementada e testada para verificar a correcta interacção com o sistema domótico KNX e as funcionalidades de controlo da instalação domótica.

ErasmusApp: A Location-Based Collaborative System for Erasmus Students

This paper reports on the design and development of an Android-based context-aware system to support Erasmus students during their mobility in Porto. It enables: (i) guest users to create, rate and store personal points of interest (POI) in a private, local on board database; and (ii) authenticated users to upload and share POI as well as get and rate recommended POI from the shared central database. The system is a distributed client / server application. The server interacts with a central database that maintains the user profiles and the shared POI organized by category and rating. The Android GUI application works both as a standalone application and as a client module. In standalone mode, guest users have access to generic info, a map-based interface and a local database to store and retrieve personal POI. Upon successful authentication, users can, additionally, share POI as well as get and rate recommendations sorted by category, rating and distance-to-user.

A rede GÉANT e as tendências de desenvolvimento das novas redes de comunicação em fibra óptica

Trabalho realizado sob orientação do Prof. António Brandão Moniz para a disciplina “Factores Sociais da Inovação” do Mestrado Engenharia Informática realizado na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal).

Efeito país de origem e etnocentrismo: caso dos vinhos espumantes italianos

Dissertação de Mestrado Mestrado em Empreendedorismo e Internacionalização Orientada por Mestre Anabela Ribeiro

A influência do marketing de redes sociais no relacionamento

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação do Professor Doutor José de Freitas Santos

Environmental Decision Support: a Multi-Agent Approach

The environmental management domain is vast and encompasses many identifiable activities: impact assessment, planning, project evaluation, etc. In particular, this paper focusses on the modelling of the project evaluation activity. The environmental decision support system under development aims to provide assistance to project developers in the selection of adequate locations, guaranteeing the compliance with the applicable regulations and the existing development plans as well as satisfying the specified project requirements. The inherent multidisciplinarity features of this activity lead to the adoption of the Multi-Agent paradigm, and, in particular, to the modelling of the involved agencies as a community of cooperative autonomous agents, where each agency contributes with its share of problem solving to the final system’s recommendation. To achieve this behaviour the many conclusions of the individual agencies have to be justifiably accommodated: not only they may differ, but can be interdependent, complementary, irreconcilable, or simply, independent. We propose different solutions (involving both local and global consistency) to support the adequate merge of the distinct perspectives that inevitably arise during this type of decision making.

Collaborative web applications

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

LSP communication in a digital age: the outcomes of teaching and learning in tertiary education

This paper discusses the changes brought by the communication revolution in teaching and learning in the scope of LSP. Its aim is to provide an insight on how teaching which was bi-dimensional, turned into a multidimensional system, gathering other complementary resources that have transformed, in a incredibly short time, the ways we receive share and store information, for instance as professionals, and keep in touch with our peers. The increasing rise of electronic publications, the incredible boom of social and professional networks, search engines, blogs, list servs, forums, e-mail blasts, Facebook pages, YouTube contents, Tweets and Apps, have twisted the way information is conveyed. Classes ceased to be predictable and have been empowered by digital platforms, innumerous and different data repositories (TILDE, IATE, LINGUEE, and so many other terminological data banks) that have definitely transformed the academic world in general and tertiary education in particular. There is a bulk of information to be digested by students, who are no longer passive but instead responsible and active for their academic outcomes. The question is whether they possess the tools to select only what is accurate and important for a certain subject or assignment, due to that overflow? Due to the reduction of the number of course years in most degrees, after the implementation of Bologna and the shrinking of the curricula contents, have students the possibility of developing critical thinking? Both teaching and learning rely on digital resources to improve the speed of the spreading of knowledge. But have those changes been effective to promote really communication? Furthermore, with the increasing Apps that have already been developed and will continue to appear for learning foreign languages, for translation among others, will the students feel the need of learning them once they have those Apps. These are some the questions we would like to discuss in our paper.

Quanto tempo dura um instante?: da dualidade do efémero e da permanência do serviço educativo

Relatório de Estágio submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Teatro – Especialização em Produção

Influência das emoções e de características pessoais na partilha de vídeos de publicidade online

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Publicidade e Marketing.