Interactive light and sound table: an EPS@ISEP project

Interactive products are appealing objects in a technology-driven society and the offer in the market is wide and varied. Most of the existing interactive products only provide either light or sound experiences. Therefore, the goal of this project was to develop a product aimed for children combining both features. This project was developed by a team of four thirdyear students with different engineering backgrounds and nationalities during the European Project Semester at ISEP (EPS@ISEP) in 2012. This paper presents the process that led to the development of an interactive sound table that combines nine identical interaction blocks, a control block and a sound block. Each interaction block works independently and is composed of four light emitting diodes (LED) and one infrared (IR) sensor. The control is performed by an Arduino microcontroller and the sound block includes a music shield and a pair of loud speakers. A number of tests were carried out to assess whether the controller, IR sensors, LED, music shield and speakers work together properly and if the ensemble was a viable interactive light and sound device for children.

Accessibility and Local Development: Interaction between Cross-border Accessibility and Local Development in Portugal and Spain

One of de EU major concerns is cohesion and cross-border regional development. Usually cross-border regions are less dynamic, acting as bottlenecks mainly in peripheral territories. This paper is focused on the Portuguese-Spanish border using socio-economic and accessibility data. It considers Spatial Econometrics to produce statistical evidence on the relationship between accessibility and development at a local scale. A pilot study is conducted on North and Center region using variables such as population age, graduation characteristics, migrations, unemployment and daily accessibility to main towns in future this evaluation will be applied to the entire cross-border area between Portugal and Spain.

Performance of concrete made with aggregates recycled from precasting industry waste: influence of the crushing process

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of the crushing process used to obtain recycled concrete aggregates on the performance of concrete made with those aggregates. Two crushing methods were considered: primary crushing, using a jaw crusher, and primary plus secondary crushing (PSC), using a jaw crusher followed by a hammer mill. Besides natural aggregates (NA), these two processes were also used to crush three types of concrete made in laboratory (L20, L45 e L65) and three more others from the precast industry (P20, P45 e P65). The coarse natural aggregates were totally replaced by coarse recycled concrete aggregates. The recycled aggregates concrete mixes were compared with reference concrete mixes made using only NA, and the following properties related to the mechanical and durability performance were tested: compressive strength; splitting tensile strength; modulus of elasticity; carbonation resistance; chloride penetration resistance; water absorption by capillarity; water absorption by immersion; and shrinkage. The results show that the PSC process leads to better performances, especially in the durability properties. © 2014 RILEM

A complex protocol layer as a linux user-space process

With the current complexity of communication protocols, implementing its layers totally in the kernel of the operating system is too cumbersome, and it does not allow use of the capabilities only available in user space processes. However, building protocols as user space processes must not impair the responsiveness of the communication. Therefore, in this paper we present a layer of a communication protocol, which, due to its complexity, was implemented in a user space process. Lower layers of the protocol are, for responsiveness issues, implemented in the kernel. This protocol was developed to support large-scale power-line communication (PLC) with timing requirements.

Comparative study about heating systems for pultrusion process

Different heating systems have been used in pultrusion, where the most widely used heaters are planar resistances. The primary objective of this study was to develop an improved heating system and compare its performance with that of a system with planar resistances. In this study, thermography was used to better understand the temperature profile along the die. Finite element analysis was performed to determine the amount of energy consumed by the heating systems. Improvements were made to the die to test the new heating system, and it was found that the new system reduced the setup time and energy consumption by approximately 57%.

DSAAR: distributed software architecture for autonomous robots

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

Overcoming the objectification of western classical music with the concept of music as a process

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Master in Music - Artistic Interpretation

Insights into the mechanims underlyng the antiproliferative potential of a Co(II) coordination compound bearing 1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-Dione: DNA and protein interaction studies

The very high antiproliferative activity of [Co(Cl)(H2O)(phendione)(2)][BF4] (phendione is 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione) against three human tumor cell lines (half-maximal inhibitory concentration below 1 mu M) and its slight selectivity for the colorectal tumor cell line compared with healthy human fibroblasts led us to explore the mechanisms of action underlying this promising antitumor potential. As previously shown by our group, this complex induces cell cycle arrest in S phase and subsequent cell death by apoptosis and it also reduces the expression of proteins typically upregulated in tumors. In the present work, we demonstrate that [Co(Cl)(phendione)(2)(H2O)][BF4] (1) does not reduce the viability of nontumorigenic breast epithelial cells by more than 85 % at 1 mu M, (2) promotes the upregulation of proapoptotic Bax and cell-cycle-related p21, and (3) induces release of lactate dehydrogenase, which is partially reversed by ursodeoxycholic acid. DNA interaction studies were performed to uncover the genotoxicity of the complex and demonstrate that even though it displays K (b) (+/- A standard error of the mean) of (3.48 +/- A 0.03) x 10(5) M-1 and is able to produce double-strand breaks in a concentration-dependent manner, it does not exert any clastogenic effect ex vivo, ruling out DNA as a major cellular target for the complex. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy studies are indicative of a strong and specific interaction of the complex with human serum albumin, involving one binding site, at a distance of approximately 1.5 nm for the Trp214 indole side chain with log K (b) similar to 4.7, thus suggesting that this complex can be efficiently transported by albumin in the blood plasma.

Drilling process of composite laminates – a tool based analysis

“Drilling of polymeric matrix composites structures”

Surface morphology and phase transformations of femtosecond laser-processed saphire

The morphological and structural modifications induced in sapphire by surface treatment with femtosecond laser radiation were studied. Single-crystal sapphire wafers cut parallel to the (0 1 2) planes were treated with 560 fs, 1030 nm wavelength laser radiation using wide ranges of pulse energy and repetition rate. Self-ordered periodic structures with an average spatial periodicity of similar to 300 nm were observed for fluences slightly higher than the ablation threshold. For higher fluences the interaction was more disruptive and extensive fracture, exfoliation, and ejection of ablation debris occurred. Four types of particles were found in the ablation debris: (a) spherical nanoparticles about 50 nm in diameter; (b) composite particles between 150 and 400 nm in size; (c) rounded resolidified particles about 100-500 nm in size; and (d) angular particles presenting a lamellar structure and deformation twins. The study of those particles by selected area electron diffraction showed that the spherical nanoparticles and the composite particles are amorphous, while the resolidified droplets and the angular particles, present a crystalline a-alumina structure, the same of the original material. Taking into consideration the existing ablation theories, it is proposed that the spherical nanoparticles are directly emitted from the surface in the ablation plume, while resolidified droplets are emitted as a result of the ablation process, in the liquid phase, in the low intensity regime, and by exfoliation, in the high intensity regime. Nanoparticle clusters are formed by nanoparticle coalescence in the cooling ablation plume. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hand gesture recognition system based in computer vision and machine learning : applications on human-machine interaction

Sendo uma forma natural de interação homem-máquina, o reconhecimento de gestos implica uma forte componente de investigação em áreas como a visão por computador e a aprendizagem computacional. O reconhecimento gestual é uma área com aplicações muito diversas, fornecendo aos utilizadores uma forma mais natural e mais simples de comunicar com sistemas baseados em computador, sem a necessidade de utilização de dispositivos extras. Assim, o objectivo principal da investigação na área de reconhecimento de gestos aplicada à interacção homemmáquina é o da criação de sistemas, que possam identificar gestos específicos e usálos para transmitir informações ou para controlar dispositivos. Para isso as interfaces baseados em visão para o reconhecimento de gestos, necessitam de detectar a mão de forma rápida e robusta e de serem capazes de efetuar o reconhecimento de gestos em tempo real. Hoje em dia, os sistemas de reconhecimento de gestos baseados em visão são capazes de trabalhar com soluções específicas, construídos para resolver um determinado problema e configurados para trabalhar de uma forma particular. Este projeto de investigação estudou e implementou soluções, suficientemente genéricas, com o recurso a algoritmos de aprendizagem computacional, permitindo a sua aplicação num conjunto alargado de sistemas de interface homem-máquina, para reconhecimento de gestos em tempo real. A solução proposta, Gesture Learning Module Architecture (GeLMA), permite de forma simples definir um conjunto de comandos que pode ser baseado em gestos estáticos e dinâmicos e que pode ser facilmente integrado e configurado para ser utilizado numa série de aplicações. É um sistema de baixo custo e fácil de treinar e usar, e uma vez que é construído unicamente com bibliotecas de código. As experiências realizadas permitiram mostrar que o sistema atingiu uma precisão de 99,2% em termos de reconhecimento de gestos estáticos e uma precisão média de 93,7% em termos de reconhecimento de gestos dinâmicos. Para validar a solução proposta, foram implementados dois sistemas completos. O primeiro é um sistema em tempo real capaz de ajudar um árbitro a arbitrar um jogo de futebol robótico. A solução proposta combina um sistema de reconhecimento de gestos baseada em visão com a definição de uma linguagem formal, o CommLang Referee, à qual demos a designação de Referee Command Language Interface System (ReCLIS). O sistema identifica os comandos baseados num conjunto de gestos estáticos e dinâmicos executados pelo árbitro, sendo este posteriormente enviado para um interface de computador que transmite a respectiva informação para os robôs. O segundo é um sistema em tempo real capaz de interpretar um subconjunto da Linguagem Gestual Portuguesa. As experiências demonstraram que o sistema foi capaz de reconhecer as vogais em tempo real de forma fiável. Embora a solução implementada apenas tenha sido treinada para reconhecer as cinco vogais, o sistema é facilmente extensível para reconhecer o resto do alfabeto. As experiências também permitiram mostrar que a base dos sistemas de interação baseados em visão pode ser a mesma para todas as aplicações e, deste modo facilitar a sua implementação. A solução proposta tem ainda a vantagem de ser suficientemente genérica e uma base sólida para o desenvolvimento de sistemas baseados em reconhecimento gestual que podem ser facilmente integrados com qualquer aplicação de interface homem-máquina. A linguagem formal de definição da interface pode ser redefinida e o sistema pode ser facilmente configurado e treinado com um conjunto de gestos diferentes de forma a serem integrados na solução final.

TRAILER – e-Portfolio for collecting and recognizing informal learning process and outcomes

Informal learning is becoming more and more important: Nowadays people learn more this way, through the Internet, than in schools or normal trainings. But they don’t get any certificateswhich attest this fact. So they can't show the employer or teacher etc. that they have learned something. TRAILER project aim is to solve this problem by developing a special tool for managing of all competences and skills acquired through informal learning experiences. Both from the perspective of the user and the perspective of an institution or a company. We’ll present the IT tool to show how people can make their informal learning outcomes visible. TRAILER helps users to gather all information about process and outcomes of their informal learning. Users can share this with friends, colleagues or their employees, teachers and so on. They can create an interactive e-portfolio which can be attached to their CV, cover letter or Knowledge Management system etc. After the presentation of the tool we will discuss possible areas and fields to use this tool. Also we would like to discuss all possible use of the tool by the participants and another needs in this area. Moreover we want to discuss other problems in informal learning process, ways to solve the problems and discuss other ideas of different IT tools which could help in informal learning process. During the discussion we’ll use an interactive respond system which can be used on mobile devices: it makes possible for participants to share their opinions individually before knowing another persons' opinion.

QED and relativistic corrections in superheavy elements

In this paper we review the different relativistic and QED contributions to energies, ionic radii, transition probabilities and Landé g-factors in super-heavy elements, with the help of the MultiConfiguration Dirac-Fock method (MCDF). The effects of taking into account the Breit interaction to all orders by including it in the self-consistent field process are demonstrated. State of the art radiative corrections are included in the calculation and discussed. We also study the non-relativistic limit of MCDF calculation and find that the non-relativistic offset can be unexpectedly large.

Learning with tangible interfaces

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

Risk management of new product development process

Dissertation submitted to Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa for the achievement of Integrated Master´s degree in Industrial Management Engineering