Instrumentação e monitorização de estruturas geotécnicas na Rede Ferroviária Nacional: estudo de caso do talude de aterro entre os Km's 236+450 e 236+720 da Linha do Sul

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Vias de Comunicação e Transportes

Methodology for in-game certification in serious games

Serious games are starting to attain a higher role as tools for learning in various contexts, but in particular in areas such as education and training. Due to its characteristics, such as rules, behavior simulation and feedback to the player's actions, serious games provide a favorable learning environment where errors can occur without real life penalty and students get instant feedback from challenges. These challenges are in accordance with the intended objectives and will self-adapt and repeat according to the student’s difficulty level. Through motivating and engaging environments, which serve as base for problem solving and simulation of different situations and contexts, serious games have a great potential to aid players developing professional skills. But, how do we certify the acquired knowledge and skills? With this work we intend to propose a methodology to establish a relationship between the game mechanics of serious games and an array of competences for certification, evaluating the applicability of various aspects in the design and development of games such as the user interfaces and the gameplay, obtaining learning outcomes within the game itself. Through the definition of game mechanics combined with the necessary pedagogical elements, the game will ensure the certification. This paper will present a matrix of generic skills, based on the European Framework of Qualifications, and the definition of the game mechanics necessary for certification on tour guide training context. The certification matrix has as reference axes: skills, knowledge and competencies, which describe what the students should learn, understand and be able to do after they complete the learning process. The guides-interpreters welcome and accompany tourists on trips and visits to places of tourist interest and cultural heritage such as museums, palaces and national monuments, where they provide various information. Tour guide certification requirements include skills and specific knowledge about foreign languages and in the areas of History, Ethnology, Politics, Religion, Geography and Art of the territory where it is inserted. These skills are communication, interpersonal relationships, motivation, organization and management. This certification process aims to validate the skills to plan and conduct guided tours on the territory, demonstrate knowledge appropriate to the context and finally match a good group leader. After defining which competences are to be certified, the next step is to delineate the expected learning outcomes, as well as identify the game mechanics associated with it. The game mechanics, as methods invoked by agents for interaction with the game world, in combination with game elements/objects allows multiple paths through which to explore the game environment and its educational process. Mechanics as achievements, appointments, progression, reward schedules or status, describe how game can be designed to affect players in unprecedented ways. In order for the game to be able to certify tour guides, the design of the training game will incorporate a set of theoretical and practical tasks to acquire skills and knowledge of various transversal themes. For this end, patterns of skills and abilities in acquiring different knowledge will be identified.

Desempenho energético no âmbito do aquecimento solar térmico para as condições de utilização recomendadas pelo RSECE/RCCTE

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

Stability of fractional order systems

The theory and applications of fractional calculus (FC) had a considerable progress during the last years. Dynamical systems and control are one of the most active areas, and several authors focused on the stability of fractional order systems. Nevertheless, due to the multitude of efforts in a short period of time, contributions are scattered along the literature, and it becomes difficult for researchers to have a complete and systematic picture of the present day knowledge. This paper is an attempt to overcome this situation by reviewing the state of the art and putting this topic in a systematic form. While the problem is formulated with rigour, from the mathematical point of view, the exposition intends to be easy to read by the applied researchers. Different types of systems are considered, namely, linear/nonlinear, positive, with delay, distributed, and continuous/discrete. Several possible routes of future progress that emerge are also tackled.

Mobile application to provide personalized sightseeing tours

Tourist recommendation systems have been growing over the last years, mainly because of the use of mobile devices to get user context. This work discuss some of the most relevant systems on the field and presents PSiS Mobile, which is a mobile recommendation and planning application designed to support a tourist during his vacations. It provides recommendations about points of interest to visit based on tourist preferences and on user and sight context. Also, it suggests a visit planning which can be dynamically adapted based on current user and sight context. This tool works like a journey dairy since it records the tourist moves and tasks to help him remember how the trip was like. To conclude, some field experiences will be presented.

Caracterização de estruturas portuárias: caso de estudo: ampliação do Terminal XXI, Sines

Relatório de Estágio para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil

A publicidade para o turismo interno: Portugal, que caminho?

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

Genetic diversity and epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates

Dissertation presented to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Biology, speciality in Microbiology, by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Towards a GIS-T database design and implementation for public transit planning: the case study of Dar-Es-salaam metropolitan city, Tanzania.

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

GIS from a cultural heritage perspective: when past and future collide

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciência e Sistemas de Informação Geográfica

Growth of (Perylene)(2) [PD(MNT)(2)] crystals

The conditions for [pd(mnt)(2)]he growth of [pd(mnt)(2)]Perylene) [pd(mnt)(2)] [Pd(mnt) [pd(mnt)(2)]] crystals either by chemical oxidation and electrochemical routes are [pd(mnt)(2)]escribed. The electrocrystallisation is limited by close [pd(mnt)(2)]roximity of [pd(mnt)(2)]he oxidation [pd(mnt)(2)]otentials of [pd(mnt)(2)]he [pd(mnt)(2)]erylene [pd(mnt)(2)]onor and [Pd(mnt) [pd(mnt)(2)]] - anion, and [pd(mnt)(2)]epending on [pd(mnt)(2)]he experimental conditions [pd(mnt)(2)]ifferent [pd(mnt)(2)]orphologies can be obtained. [pd(mnt)(2)]Per) [pd(mnt)(2)] [Pd(mnt) [pd(mnt)(2)]] crystals obtained by elecrocrystallisation were found [pd(mnt)(2)]o be [pd(mnt)(2)]ainly of [pd(mnt)(2)]he β-polymorph with [pd(mnt)(2)]roperties comparable [pd(mnt)(2)]o [pd(mnt)(2)]he Cu, Ni and Pt analogues [pd(mnt)(2)]reviously [pd(mnt)(2)]escribed at variance with [pd(mnt)(2)]hose obtained by chemical oxidation which are [pd(mnt)(2)]ainly of [pd(mnt)(2)]he α-polymorph.

Methyl syringate: An efficient phenolic mediator for bacterial and fungal laccases

The aim of the present work is to provide insight into the mechanism of laccase reactions using syringyl-type mediators. We studied the pH dependence and the kinetics of oxidation of syringyl-type phenolics using the low CotA and the high redox potential TvL laccases. Additionally, the efficiency of these compounds as redox mediators for the oxidation of non-phenolic lignin units was tested at different pH values and increasing mediator/non-phenolic ratios. Finally, the intermediates and products of reactions were identified by LC-MS and H-1 NMR. These approaches allow concluding on the (1) mechanism involved in the oxidation of phenolics by bacterial laccases, (2) importance of the chemical nature and properties of phenolic mediators, (3) apparent independence of the enzyme's properties on the yields of non-phenolics conversion, (4) competitive routes involved in the catalytic cycle of the laccase-mediator system with several new C-O coupling type structures being proposed.

On chaos, transient chaos and ghosts in single populations models with allee effects

Density-dependent effects, both positive or negative, can have an important impact on the population dynamics of species by modifying their population per-capita growth rates. An important type of such density-dependent factors is given by the so-called Allee effects, widely studied in theoretical and field population biology. In this study, we analyze two discrete single population models with overcompensating density-dependence and Allee effects due to predator saturation and mating limitation using symbolic dynamics theory. We focus on the scenarios of persistence and bistability, in which the species dynamics can be chaotic. For the chaotic regimes, we compute the topological entropy as well as the Lyapunov exponent under ecological key parameters and different initial conditions. We also provide co-dimension two bifurcation diagrams for both systems computing the periods of the orbits, also characterizing the period-ordering routes toward the boundary crisis responsible for species extinction via transient chaos. Our results show that the topological entropy increases as we approach to the parametric regions involving transient chaos, being maximum when the full shift R(L)(infinity) occurs, and the system enters into the essential extinction regime. Finally, we characterize analytically, using a complex variable approach, and numerically the inverse square-root scaling law arising in the vicinity of a saddle-node bifurcation responsible for the extinction scenario in the two studied models. The results are discussed in the context of species fragility under differential Allee effects. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diagnóstico ambiental de duas empresas

Mestrado em Engenharia Química - Ramo Tecnologias de Protecção Ambiental

Competência intercultural: conteúdos culturais na aquisição da língua estrangeira e sua integração didáctica no ensino do alemão

Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Cultura Alemã.