Culturtainment - a new interactive entertainment genre: assessment of Cultural Heritage digital content in leisure software games

European Master in Multimedia and Audiovisual Administration

Content validity and reliability of test of gross motor development in Chilean children

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To validate a Spanish version of the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2) for the Chilean population. METHODS Descriptive, transversal, non-experimental validity and reliability study. Four translators, three experts and 92 Chilean children, from five to 10 years, students from a primary school in Santiago, Chile, have participated. The Committee of Experts has carried out translation, back-translation and revision processes to determine the translinguistic equivalence and content validity of the test, using the content validity index in 2013. In addition, a pilot implementation was achieved to determine test reliability in Spanish, by using the intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman method. We evaluated whether the results presented significant differences by replacing the bat with a racket, using T-test. RESULTS We obtained a content validity index higher than 0.80 for language clarity and relevance of the TGMD-2 for children. There were significant differences in the object control subtest when comparing the results with bat and racket. The intraclass correlation coefficient for reliability inter-rater, intra-rater and test-retest reliability was greater than 0.80 in all cases. CONCLUSIONS The TGMD-2 has appropriate content validity to be applied in the Chilean population. The reliability of this test is within the appropriate parameters and its use could be recommended in this population after the establishment of normative data, setting a further precedent for the validation in other Latin American countries.

An SEM investigation of the pozzolanic activity of a waste catalyst oil refinery

The most active phase of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, used in oil refinery, is zeolite-Y which is an aluminosilicate with a high internal and external surface area responsible for its high reactivity. Waste FCC catalyst is potentially able to be reused in cement-based materials - as an additive - undergoing a pozzolanic reaction with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) formed during cement hydration [1-3]. This reaction produces additional strength-providing reaction products i.e., calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) and hydrous calcium aluminates (C-A-H) which exact chemical formula and structure are still unknown. Partial replacement of cement by waste FCC catalyst has two key advantages: (1) lowering of cement production with the associated pollution reduction as this industry represents one of the largest sources of man-made CO2 emissions, and (2) improving the mechanical properties and durability of cement-based materials. Despite these advantages, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge on pozzolanic reaction mechanisms as well as spatial distribution of porosity and solid phases interactions at the microstructural level and consequently their relationship with macroscopical engineering properties of catalyst/cement blends. Within this scope, backscattered electron (BSE) images acquired in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and by X-ray diffraction were used to investigate chemical composition of hydration products and to analyse spatial information of the microstructure of waste FCC catalyst blended cement mortars. For this purpose mortars with different levels of cement substitution by waste catalyst as well as with different hydration ages, were prepared. The waste FCC catalyst used is produced by the Portuguese refinery company Petrogal S.A.

Low-carbon cement with waste oil-craking catalyst incorporation

The present paper shows preliminary results of an ongoing project which one of the goals is to investigate the viability of using waste FCC catalyst (wFCC), originated from Portuguese oil refinery, to produce low carbon blended cements. For this purpose, four blended cements were produced by substituting cement CEM I 42.5R up to 20% (w/w) by waste FCC catalyst. Initial and final setting times, consistency of standard paste, soundness and compressive strengths after 2, 7 and 28 days were measured. It was observed that the wFCC blended cements developed similar strength, at 28 days, compared to the reference cement, CEM I 42.5R. Moreover, cements with waste FCC catalyst incorporation up to 15% w/w meet European Standard EN 197-1 specifications for CEM II/A type cement, in the 42.5R strength class.

Extraction of volatile oil from aromatic plants with supercritical carbon dioxide: experiments and modeling

An overview of the studies carried out in our laboratories on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of volatile oils from seven aromatic plants: pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.), fennel seeds (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), savory (Satureja fruticosa Beguinot), winter savory (Satureja montana L.), cotton lavender (Santolina chamaecyparisus) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris), is presented. A flow apparatus with a 1 L extractor and two 0.27 L separators was built to perform studies at temperatures ranging from 298 to 353 K and pressures up to 30.0 MPa. The best compromise between yield and composition compared with hydrodistillation (HD) was achieved selecting the optimum experimental conditions of extraction and fractionation. The major differences between HD and SFE oils is the presence of a small percentage of cuticular waxes and the relative amount of thymoquinone, an oxygenated monoterpene with important biological properties, which is present in the oils from thyme and winter savory. On the other hand, the modeling of our data on supercritical extraction of volatile oil from pennyroyal is discussed using Sovova's models. These models have been applied successfully to the other volatile oil extractions. Furthermore, other experimental studies involving supercritical CO2 carried out in our laboratories are also mentioned.

Estudo da influência de parâmetros ambientais (Fe e N) na produtividade lipídica da microalga Chlamydomonas sp.

Mestrado em Engenharia Química - Ramo Tecnologias de Protecção Ambiental

Determinação do teor de compostos aromáticos policíclicos de óleos minerais isolantes para transformadores

Mestrado em Engenharia Química - Ramo Optimização Energética na Indústria Química

Produção de biodiesel etílico por via enzimática a partir de óleo de milho transgénico

Mestrado em Engenharia Química

EduMCA: an approach to Educational Mobile Content Adaptation

As the variety of mobile devices connected to the Internet growts there is a correponding increase in the need to deliver content tailored to their heterogeneous characteristics. At the same time, we watch to the increase of e-learning in universities through the adoption of electronic platforms and standards. Not surprisingly, the concept of mLearning (Mobile Learning) appeared in recent years decreasing the limitation of learning location with the mobility of general portable devices. However, this large number and variety of Web-enabled devices poses several challenges for Web content creators who want to automatic get the delivery context and adapt the content to the client mobile devices. In this paper we analyze several approaches to defining delivery context and present an architecture for deliver uniform mLearning content to mobile devices denominated eduMCA - Educational Mobile Content Adaptation. With the eduMCA system the Web authors will not need to create specialized pages for each kind of device, since the content is automatically transformed to adapt to any mobile device capabilities from WAP to XHTML MP-compliant devices.

Bitocast: a hybrid BitTorrent and IP Multicast content distribution solution

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Informática, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

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.

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.

A survey on e-learning content standardization

eLearning has been evolved in a gradual and consistent way. Along with this evolution several specialized and disparate systems appeared to fulfill the needs of teachers and students such as repositories of learning objects, intelligent tutors, or automatic evaluators. This heterogeneity poses issues that are necessary to address in order to promote interoperability among systems. Based on this fact, the standardization of content takes a leading role in the eLearning realm. This article presents a survey on current eLearning content standards. It gathers information on the most emergent standards and categorizes them according three distinct facets: metadata, content packaging and educational design.

Management Driven Hybrid Multicast Framework for Content Aware Networks

The need for better adaptation of networks to transported flows has led to research on new approaches such as content aware networks and network aware applications. In parallel, recent developments of multimedia and content oriented services and applications such as IPTV, video streaming, video on demand, and Internet TV reinforced interest in multicast technologies. IP multicast has not been widely deployed due to interdomain and QoS support problems; therefore, alternative solutions have been investigated. This article proposes a management driven hybrid multicast solution that is multi-domain and media oriented, and combines overlay multicast, IP multicast, and P2P. The architecture is developed in a content aware network and network aware application environment, based on light network virtualization. The multicast trees can be seen as parallel virtual content aware networks, spanning a single or multiple IP domains, customized to the type of content to be transported while fulfilling the quality of service requirements of the service provider.