Interactive evolutionary 3D fractal modeling.

Pang, Wenjun.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-88).Abstracts in English and Chinese.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iiABSTRACT --- p.iv摘要 --- p.vCONTENTS --- p.viList of Tables --- p.viiiList of Figures --- p.ixChapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Recent research work --- p.4Chapter 1.2 --- Objectives --- p.8Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Organization --- p.10Chapter 2. --- FRACTAL MODELING --- p.12Chapter 2.1 --- Fractal and Fractal Art --- p.12Chapter 2.2 --- Fractal Geometry --- p.15Chapter 2.3 --- Construction of Fractals --- p.21Chapter 2.4 --- Fractal Measurement and Aesthetics --- p.27Chapter 3. --- OVERVIEW OF EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN --- p.30Chapter 3.1 --- Initialization --- p.33Chapter 3.2 --- Selection --- p.33Chapter 3.3 --- Reproduction --- p.34Chapter 3.4 --- Termination --- p.36Chapter 4. --- EVOLUTIONARY 3D FRACTAL MODELING --- p.38Chapter 4.1 --- Fractal Construction --- p.38Chapter 4.1.1 --- Self-similar Condition of Fractal --- p.38Chapter 4.1.2 --- Fractal Transformation (FT) IFS Formulation --- p.39Chapter 4.1.3 --- IFS Genotype and Phenotype Expression --- p.41Chapter 4.2 --- Evolutionary Algorithm --- p.43Chapter 4.2.1 --- Single-point Crossover --- p.45Chapter 4.2.2 --- Arithmetic Gaussian mutation --- p.45Chapter 4.2.3 --- Inferior Elimination --- p.46Chapter 4.3 --- Interactive Fine-tuning using FT IFS --- p.46Chapter 4.4 --- Gaussian Fitness Function --- p.48Chapter 5. --- GAUSSIAN AESTHETIC FITNESS FUNCTION --- p.49Chapter 5.1 --- Fitness Considerations --- p.50Chapter 5.2 --- Fitness Function Formulation --- p.53Chapter 5.3 --- Results and Discussion on Fitness Function --- p.55Chapter 6. --- EXPERIMENT RESULTS and DISCUSSION --- p.59Chapter 6.1 --- Experiment of Evolutionary Generation --- p.59Chapter 6.2 --- Comparison on Different Methods --- p.60Chapter 7. --- 3D FRACTALS RENDERING and APPLICATION --- p.62Chapter 7.1 --- Transforming Property and User Modification --- p.62Chapter 7.2 --- Visualization and Rendering of 3D Fractals --- p.66Chapter 7.3 --- Applications in Design --- p.74Chapter 8. --- CONCLUSIONS and FUTURE WORK --- p.81Chapter 8.1 --- Conclusions --- p.81Chapter 8.2 --- Future Work --- p.81BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.83Appendix --- p.89Marching Cubes Method --- p.8

Procedural Generation of 2D Games

Tese de mestrado, Engenharia Informática (Interação e Conhecimento) Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2020The main objective of this project is to develop a procedural generator of levels for 2D games, with the capacity of adapting the difficulty of the levels to a player’s skill in a specific game. Thus, in order to implement a procedural generator with the previously mentioned features, we intend to combine two techniques: procedural content generation and dynamic difficulty adjustment. Procedural content generation is a technique which has the purpose of creating content for a game. The game content generated can be anything related to the video-game in question (e.g. characters, items, terrain, levels). Dynamic difficulty adjustment is the name of the technique used to make adjustments to the game’s difficulty, depending on the overall progress of a player in a particular level. The procedural content generator developed uses the idea of rhythms of a level as its basis (Smith et al., 2009). This approach consists on describing a level as a sequence of actions that must be done to successfully conclude it. Our methodology differs from the classical rhythm-based approach, because instead of a sequence of single actions we rep resent a level as a sequence of classes of actions. A class of actions is a group of actions that have the same assumed difficulty, which is defined by a mechanic description (what keys to press to perform an action). For the generation of these sequences of classes of actions, it is used a genetic algorithm whose fitness function is able to evaluate the difficulty of a sequence, which allows it to generate rhythms for diverse levels with different difficulties. After the rhythm generation process, the resulting sequences of classes of actions are going to be passed as a parameters to a geometry generator, that is going to associate each of the class of actions to a level chunk, having, in the end, a new playable level (a group of level chunks). This approach was then tested with different games to demonstrate the generator’s capacity to generalize and, to prove our definitions of difficulty, we made some tests using search algorithms and human players to make this evaluation

Pestana CR7: brand concept case study

Tourism is an attractive market segment in expansion and continues to show diversity, turning out one of the largest fastest-growing economic sectors in the world. On the other hand, travel behaviors, factors that influence accommodation booking, the hotel services and features that guests value the most about are evolving which creates new opportunity to be explored. Pestana Group, major international Portuguese hotel chain, enlarged its portfolio and announced in 2016 the launch of its new brand: Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels. A universe in which hotel units are based on a contemporary boutique lifestyle concept where the purpose is the affirmation of these new units as trendsetters in their prestigious locations to appeal to the modern-day Millennial traveler. A JointVenture between Pestana Group and Cristiano Ronaldo which developed as associates the brand concept inspired by the set of values and personality of Cristiano Ronaldo aligned with Pestana Group service experience. The case study provides an overview of Pestana CR7 brand identity and positioning as well as the spectrum of the tourism and hospitality sector in order to apply academic knowledge to a real practical case study for future academic interest. In this case, the project aims to provide concepts of Marketing and Branding specifically applied to the tourism field, mainly to a hotel brand concept. More precisely, it will amplify the knowledge about Pestana Hotel Group and CR7 brand, while it introduces the environment in which Pestana CR7 is perceived. The main goal was collect insights, reactions, and expectations from Millennials about the implementation of a Lifestyle Hotel concept and understand the unique value proposition of the brand Pestana CR7 in order to analyze the essence of the brand and test concept and target compatibility.O turismo é um segmento de mercado atrativo em expansão e que continua a mostrar diversidade, tornando-se um dos maiores setores econômicos e de mais rápido crescimento do mundo. Por outro lado, os comportamentos das pessoas numa viagem, os respetivos fatores que influenciam a reserva da sua estadia, e os serviços e características dos hotéis que os clientes mais valorizam estão em evolução, criando novas oportunidades a serem exploradas. O Grupo Pestana, principal cadeia hoteleira portuguesa a nível internacional, ampliou o seu portfólio e anunciou em 2016 o lançamento da sua nova marca: Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels. Um universo cujas unidades hoteleiras são baseadas num conceito de boutique e num estilo de vida contemporâneo onde o objetivo é a afirmação dessas unidades como trendsetters nas localizações de prestígio onde se encontram, para atrair o viajante moderno Millennial. É uma JointVenture entre o Grupo Pestana e Cristiano Ronaldo, que em parceria desenvolveram o conceito da marca inspirado no conjunto de valores e personalidade de Cristiano Ronaldo alinhados à experiência de serviço do Grupo Pestana. O caso de estudo proporciona uma visão geral da identidade e posicionamento da marca Pestana CR7, bem como o espectro do setor do turismo e hotelaria. Neste caso, o projeto visa aprofundar conceitos de Marketing e Branding especificamente aplicados ao campo do turismo sobre um conceito de marca hoteleira. Mais precisamente, ampliará o conhecimento sobre o Grupo Pestana e a marca CR7, enquanto introduz o meio envolvente onde a marca Pestana CR7 está inserida, a fim de aplicar conhecimento acadêmico num verdadeiro caso prático para futuro interesse acadêmico

AESTHETIC PERCEPTION AND MOTIVATION MODEL FOR FORMAL AND INFORMAL VISUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Researchers claim that aesthetic qualities of Formal Learning Visual Environments (FL YEs) have a persuasive role in intensifying learning motivation. Unfortunately, designers seem to overlook the necessity of aesthetic designing of FL YEs that could sustain Learners' Learning Motivation (LLM). The existing literature on aesthetic designing of FL YEs primarily focuses upon environment perspective and users' perspective. The existing studies, however, do not take into account, Learners' Aesthetic Perceptions (LAPs) in Informal Visual Environments (!YEs) which may also influence upon LLM. Recent research in this domain suggests that IVEs are producing learners' with a new profile of cognitive skills, such as visual-spatial intelligence and enhanced aesthetic perceptions. It is thus argued that LAPs formed in IVEs may result in establishment of new schemas (set of aesthetic expectations) and make learners' perceptually selective in judging aesthetics

Landscape generator : method to generate plausible landscape configurations for participatory spatial plan-making

Contemporary regional spatial plan-making in the Netherlands is characterized as a complex process wherein multiple actors, with different levels of interests and demands, try to commonly develop a coherent and comprehensive set of future plan scenarios. The construction of the set of spatial plan scenarios is the core activity of each regional spatial planning process and is often unique and tailored to the specific context and policy objectives formulated for a plan area. Modern collaborative scenario construction is complex due to a variety of participating actors, as public planners, domain experts and non-experts as interest groups and landowners. The level of participation of the non-expert group varies from process to process, but for effective spatial scenarios it is important to ergonomically construct, surprising and plausible scenarios with vivid, proximate and concrete content. The last decades, many attempts have been undertaken to support plan scenario development with digital systems, with strong emphasis on the analytical capabilities of computers. Little attention, however is given to the development of intuitive sketch and design tools and methods, that support the interactive process of large-scale collaborative multi-level plan design, by visualizing and modeling comprehensive landscape scenarios down to the level of cadastral lots. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to develop and evaluate a method, that generates plausible landscape configurations by using user-defined landscape typologies, as a digital support tool for participatory spatial plan-making. To enable the effective design and modeling of vivid and plausible future spatial scenarios, there is a need for a method which supports the two main steps of plan scenario construction in Simlandscape. Simlandscape introduces a rich set of instruments and procedures in order to construct a diverse and coherent scenario set that supports communication and social learning and that facilitate a better informed decision-making process. The central notion in Simlandscape is that actual transformation of the landscape takes place at the ownership lot level. Through construction of strategic spatial scenarios down to the level of individual or clustered lots, comprehensive qualitative and quantitative evaluation becomes possible. Design instruments are proposed, that are intuitive in supporting the funneling creative design process from abstract and general sketches to specific and detailed economic function allocation and landscape layout modeling. The latter activity is supported by the definition and allocation of landscape lot typologies with (non-spatial) attributes. The first step in plan scenario construction in Simlandscape consists of the distribution and allocation of landscape lot typologies to lot geometries. This step poses a complex problem, which can be manually as well as automatically be solved, but is not the core of this research. The second step, assumes that a landscape lot typology is allocated to a lot geometry, and contains generation of a plausible landscape configuration, based on the attributes of the landscape lot typology. This step can also be done manually, but is very time-consuming for a total plan area involved. Therefore, automatic generation of a plausible landscape configuration, based on the properties of the allocated landscape lot typology is important and central subject in this research. The automatic generation of landscape configuration is part of the research field called ‘generative modeling’. In chapter 2, the most of the established existing generative approaches in generative landscape modeling are reviewed for their applicability and relevance as the base for the method to generate plausible landscape configurations from landscape lot typologies. In spatial planning literature, four important more or less distinct fields of research are identified which offer directly or indirectly approaches for developing a generative method: 1) procedural modeling, 2) spatial multi-objective optimization modeling, 3) cellular automata and 4) multi-agent systems. The approaches to generate landscape configurations provide several points of departure. Unfortunately, none of the current approaches is directly applicable for the addressed objective in this research. Procedural modeling techniques as shape or landscape grammars are able to produce, or support the creation of detailed, appealing and realistic landscape visualizations. Due to this level of detail of modeling, the process of inference to identify relevant objects and mutual relations in reality, is complex due to the large number of objects and relations to be modeled. Moreover, the ambiguous character of the relations between objects provides large difficulties in identifying objective and generic rules. Spatial multi-objective optimization modeling in spatial planning problems, as linear integer programming, genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, have a strong theoretical base and are applied frequently in spatial planning literature to provide ‘the most favourable’ landscape and plan layout in terms of minimal development costs. More recently, also general spatial shape objectives are included in the multi-objective functions devised. The research objectives in these studies however, are often restricted to a level of layout planning which is less detailed than the objective stated in this research. A direct consequence is that shape objectives are in general terms of compactness and solely defined at the land-use class level. Furthermore, the number of land-uses to be allocated and the site to be modelled is kept relatively small. These features are enough to provide a proof of principle, but not to deal with realistic planning challenges. Cellular automata and multi-agent systems provide robust frameworks to realistically model subject and object interactions in space and time. However, the non-deterministic behavior and outcomes of the model runs make them less suitable to generate plausible landscape configurations as defined in this research. Chapter 3 describes the (development of the) landscape generator, that is compatible with the regional plan scenario development approach identified in Simlandscape. The landscape generator uses landscape types as building blocks of plan scenarios. A landscape typology describes a proposed future spatial development and contains spatial and (non)spatial (descriptive) attributes. A 2D reference image indirectly provides objective compositional and configurational characteristics of the proposed development. In essence, users allocate a landscape typology to a cadastral lot typology and based on this information, the landscape generator produces a comprehensive landscape configuration. The landscape generator is developed as a multi-objective heuristic optimization modeling approach. In this approach a sequentially updated multi-objective function is optimized for a two-dimensional allocation site. It is assumed that the site is homogeneous in physical characteristics (e.g. height, soil etc.). The multi-objective function is compiled from an available library of single spatial attributes. These spatial attributes and their target values are retrieved from the compositional and configurational characteristics present in the reference image of the landscape typology. Examples from the available spatial attributes are the number of landscape component instances, the relative size of each component or each component instance, compactness and shape of component instances and direct adjacency between two different landscape components. In a hypothetical case study, the capabilities and behavior of the landscape generator are demonstrated. In the case study, the landscape generator generates a variety of landscape configurations for a hypothetical allocation site (20x20 cells) and a rural forest estate as allocated landscape typology. The reference image of the rural forest estate provides detailed information for the compilation of the multi-objective function. The landscape generator contains probabilistic elements (e.g. random starting situation, near-random cell swap), which results in different output, each time it is run with identical input settings. The landscape generator is capable of producing a range of landscape configurations for a variety of situations. A unique situation is defined by the allocation of one landscape typology to one allocation site. Theoretically, since the method is based on the objective measurement of spatial characteristics present in a reference image, each user-defined typology can be used for a selected allocation site. The landscape typologies cannot be allocated to every imaginable dimensioned allocation site, but are bounded by the spatial extent which specifies a valid spatial extent. At the heart of the method lies the compilation of the multi-objective function. Ideally, this compilation can be executed completely objectively and without user-interaction, as the reference image of the landscape typology provides the required information. In the current prototype version of the landscape generator, however, the compilation process is partly (and in advance) controlled by the modeler. The modeler needs to specify which of the available spatial attributes to include, in which sequence to optimize them and what attribute target values to specify. Surely, the modeler is informed by statistics calculated for the reference image. An important task is to define consistent guidelines for the compilation of the multi-objective function from each landscape typology, irrespective of the properties of a valid allocation site. In this research, the modeler has been able to define specific guidelines for each landscape typology. In the current state of the method, a continuous assessment, through iterative testing, needs to be made by the modeler, about which compilation is sufficient in producing plausible configurations and which compilation process produces solutions within reasonable computation times. In chapter 4, a method is presented to obtain insight in the usability of the landscape generator. The produced landscape configurations are extensively evaluated in an extensive internet-based validation experiment. For a broad variety of different situations, landscape configurations are generated by the landscape generator for realistically dimensioned and enclosed sites. The configurations are compared with professional hand-drawn configurations, by a large group of planning professionals. The subjects are provided an interactive, user-friendly web-based inquiry, in which they are requested to (graphically) rank order a random selection out of a total set of landscape configurations (hand-made or computer-generated), from ‘most to least plausible’. The population is not informed about the difference in production process of each landscape configuration. In the experiment a distinction is made between subjective and objective plausibility, representing design quality aspects and representativeness of the landscape typology respectively. Eight different situations (three subjective and five objective) are assessed by the group of respondents and analyzed with a modified version of an approved statistical method, known as ‘the law of comparative judgement’. In addition, to indicate points of interest for further improvements of the methodology, implicit and explicit dimensions of evaluation used by the respondents for each of the objective assessments are identified. The implicit dimensions are identified using linear regression analysis, with single spatial metric properties of the configurations as explanatory variables. To identify explicit dimensions of evaluation the respondents are asked for two of the earlier presented situations, to select five pre-defined used dimensions of evaluation. The current experiment setup provides a robust method as well as reliable results about the capability of the landscape generator to produce plausible landscape configurations. With its modern interactive web interface, its well-balanced data scheme (randomness, several situations) and the use of approved statistical methods, the experiment finds a balance between maximum effective information retrieval and an acceptable level of user workload. In chapter 5, the results of the validation experiment are presented and in chapter 6 these results are analyzed. For each of the three assignments of the design quality test, it is concluded that the whole set of computer-generated configurations is not of comparable design quality as the whole set of professional configurations. Several individual computer-generated landscape configurations have comparable design quality as the professional configurations. The landscape generator is able to produce configurations with landscape components which are with respect to its individual area, shape and relative adjacency plausible. The overall structure is, however, often perceived as near-random. In some situations this is regarded plausible, while in other situations it is regarded implausible. The results of the four analyzed assignments of the representativeness test show a more favorable view on the capabilities of the landscape generator. In half of the cases, the whole set of computer-generated configurations are considered comparable in representativeness to professional onfigurations. In the other half, several individual computer-generated are considered of comparable representativeness. The representativeness test is most important in plausibility validation of the landscape generator, as the primary objective of the research implies that each actor (with different levels of design experience) should be able to provide her development idea (described in the landscape typology) as a comprehensive visualization in an integrated plan scenario. In the initial planning phases of application of the landscape generator, it is more important to obtain a first impression of the impacts (visual and analytical) of a plan scenario than a completely well-modeled and calculated landscape design. Possible non-professional design choices in a landscape typology can be reflected in the generated landscape configurations. Analysis to dimensions of evaluation gives insight into possible explanations for the plausibility ordering of the subjects.A distinction is made between explicit and implicit dimensions of evaluation. Explicit dimensions are directly assembled in the experiment and provide perceived dimensions of evaluations. The implicit dimensions, identified with linear regression analysis are however uncertain in its reliability and ideally should be assembled in relation to explicit dimensions. Results of the linear regression analysis can direct future research with different approaches. First, the attribute target values in the current compilation can be re-specified. Second, non-used but available spatial attributes can be added to the multi-objective function. Third, new spatial attributes may be developed to be included in the optimization process. In light of the main objective in this research, it is important to define consistent guidelines for generating landscape typologies for different situations. In this research, a start is made to identify important choices with respect to the minimal selection of spatial attributes, the influence of its sequence and feasible attribute target value specification. The experiment results further provide detailed directions for improvements of the landscape generator. Other recommendations put forward in this research are related to: 1) the modification of the current heuristic approach (for performance improvement and local trapping avoidance purposes) by hybridization with existing heuristic approaches as simulated annealing and evolutionary algorithms, 2) full-automatic translation from the main characteristics of a landscape typology into the compilation of the multi-objective optimization function; this translation should be as generic as possible and the resulting configurations should be thoroughly validated for plausibility for a variety of possible representative situations (i.e. combination of proposed landscape typology with typical influential allocation site characteristics), 3) extending, if possible, the current library of available spatial attributes with functions that describe more overall organizational properties of landscape typologies or investigation of (parallel or sequential) optimization at different scale levels, 4) the inclusion or extension with representative infrastructure generation and 5) the increase in the effectiveness of the validation experiment by standardizing the acquisition of professional configurations (e.g. designing materials, formats and conditions and automation of conversion to images used in the inquiry) and 6) increase in the reliability of the validation experiment by separating the different parts of the experiment according prioritisation of experiment objectives

Visualization and analytics of codicological data of Hebrew books

The goal is to provide a proper data model, using a common vocabulary, to decrease the heterogenous nature of these datasets as well as its inherent uncertainty caused by the descriptive nature of the field of Codicology. This research project was developed with the goal of applying data visualization and data mining techniques to the field of Codicology and Digital Humanities. Using Hebrew manuscript data as a starting point, this dissertation proposes an environment for exploratory analysis to be used by Humanities experts to deepen their understanding of codicological data, to formulate new, or verify existing, research hypotheses, and to communicate their findings in a richer way. To improve the scope of visualizations and knowledge discovery we will try to use data mining methods such as Association Rule Mining and Formal Concept Analysis. The present dissertation aims to retrieve information and structure from Hebrew manuscripts collected by codicologists. These manuscripts reflect the production of books of a specific region, namely "Sefarad" region, within the period between 10th and 16th.A presente dissertação tem como objetivo obter conhecimento estruturado de manuscritos hebraicos coletados por codicologistas. Estes manuscritos refletem a produção de livros de uma região específica, nomeadamente a região "Sefarad", no período entre os séculos X e XVI. O objetivo é fornecer um modelo de dados apropriado, usando um vocabulário comum, para diminuir a natureza heterogénea desses conjuntos de dados, bem como sua incerteza inerente causada pela natureza descritiva no campo da Codicologia. Este projeto de investigação foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de aplicar técnicas de visualização de dados e "data mining" no campo da Codicologia e Humanidades Digitais. Usando os dados de manuscritos hebraicos como ponto de partida, esta dissertação propõe um ambiente para análise exploratória a ser utilizado por especialistas em Humanidades Digitais e Codicologia para aprofundar a compreensão dos dados codicológicos, formular novas hipóteses de pesquisa, ou verificar existentes, e comunicar as suas descobertas de uma forma mais rica. Para melhorar as visualizações e descoberta de conhecimento, tentaremos usar métodos de data mining, como a "Association Rule Mining" e "Formal Concept Analysis"

Proposal of an adaptive infotainment system depending on driving scenario complexity

Tesi en modalitat Doctorat industrialPla de Doctorat industrial de la Generalitat de CatalunyaThe PhD research project is framed within the plan of industrial doctorates of the “Generalitat de Catalunya”. During the investigation, most of the work was carried out at the facilities of the vehicle manufacturer SEAT, specifically at the information and entertainment (infotainment) department. In the same way, there was a continuous cooperation with the telematics department of the UPC. The main objective of the project consisted in the design and validation of an adaptive infotainment system dependent on the driving complexity. The system was created with the purpose of increasing driver’ experience while guaranteeing a proper level of road safety. Given the increasing number of application and services available in current infotainment systems, it becomes necessary to devise a system capable of balancing these two counterparts. The most relevant parameters that can be used for balancing these metrics while driving are: type of services offered, interfaces available for interacting with the services, the complexity of driving and the profile of the driver. The present study can be divided into two main development phases, each phase had as outcome a real physical block that came to be part of the final system. The final system was integrated in a vehicle and validated in real driving conditions. The first phase consisted in the creation of a model capable of estimating the driving complexity based on a set of variables related to driving. The model was built by employing machine learning methods and the dataset necessary to create it was collected from several driving routes carried out by different participants. This phase allowed to create a model capable of estimating, with a satisfactory accuracy, the complexity of the road using easily extractable variables in any modern vehicle. This approach simplify the implementation of this algorithm in current vehicles. The second phase consisted in the classification of a set of principles that allow the design of the adaptive infotainment system based on the complexity of the road. These principles are defined based on previous researches undertaken in the field of usability and user experience of graphical interfaces. According to these of principles, a real adaptive infotainment system with the most commonly used functionalities; navigation, radio and media was designed and integrated in a real vehicle. The developed system was able to adapt the presentation of the content according to the estimation of the driving complexity given by the block developed in phase one. The adaptive system was validated in real driving scenarios by several participants and results showed a high level of acceptance and satisfaction towards this adaptive infotainment. As a starting point for future research, a proof of concept was carried out to integrate new interfaces into a vehicle. The interface used as reference was a Head Mounted screen that offered redundant information in relation to the instrument cluster. Tests with participants served to understand how users perceive the introduction of new technologies and how objective benefits could be blurred by initial biases.El proyecto de investigación de doctorado se enmarca dentro del plan de doctorados industriales de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Durante la investigación, la mayor parte del trabajo se llevó a cabo en las instalaciones del fabricante de vehículos SEAT, específicamente en el departamento de información y entretenimiento (infotainment). Del mismo modo, hubo una cooperación continua con el departamento de telemática de la UPC. El objetivo principal del proyecto consistió en el diseño y la validación de un sistema de información y entretenimiento adaptativo que se ajustaba de acuerdo a la complejidad de la conducción. El sistema fue creado con el propósito de aumentar la experiencia del conductor y garantizar un nivel adecuado en la seguridad vial. El proyecto surge dado el número creciente de aplicaciones y servicios disponibles en los sistemas actuales de información y entretenimiento; es por ello que se hace necesario contar con un sistema capaz de equilibrar estas dos contrapartes. Los parámetros más relevantes que se pueden usar para equilibrar estas métricas durante la conducción son: el tipo de servicios ofrecidos, las interfaces disponibles para interactuar con los servicios, la complejidad de la conducción y el perfil del conductor. El presente estudio se puede dividir en dos fases principales de desarrollo, cada fase tuvo como resultado un componente que se convirtió en parte del sistema final. El sistema final fue integrado en un vehículo y validado en condiciones reales de conducción. La primera fase consistió en la creación de un modelo capaz de estimar la complejidad de la conducción en base a un conjunto de variables relacionadas con la conducción. El modelo se construyó empleando "Machine Learning Methods" y el conjunto de datos necesario para crearlo se recopiló a partir de varias rutas de conducción realizadas por diferentes participantes. Esta fase permitió crear un modelo capaz de estimar, con una precisión satisfactoria, la complejidad de la carretera utilizando variables fácilmente extraíbles en cualquier vehículo moderno. Este enfoque simplifica la implementación de este algoritmo en los vehículos actuales. La segunda fase consistió en la clasificación de un conjunto de principios que permiten el diseño del sistema de información y entretenimiento adaptativo basado en la complejidad de la carretera. Estos principios se definen en base a investigaciones anteriores realizadas en el campo de usabilidad y experiencia del usuario con interfaces gráficas. De acuerdo con estos principios, un sistema de entretenimiento y entretenimiento real integrando las funcionalidades más utilizadas; navegación, radio y audio fue diseñado e integrado en un vehículo real. El sistema desarrollado pudo adaptar la presentación del contenido según la estimación de la complejidad de conducción dada por el bloque desarrollado en la primera fase. El sistema adaptativo fue validado en escenarios de conducción reales por varios participantes y los resultados mostraron un alto nivel de aceptación y satisfacción hacia este entretenimiento informativo adaptativo. Como punto de partida para futuras investigaciones, se llevó a cabo una prueba de concepto para integrar nuevas interfaces en un vehículo. La interfaz utilizada como referencia era una pantalla a la altura de los ojos (Head Mounted Display) que ofrecía información redundante en relación con el grupo de instrumentos. Las pruebas con los participantes sirvieron para comprender cómo perciben los usuarios la introducción de nuevas tecnologías y cómo los sesgos iniciales podrían difuminar los beneficios.Postprint (published version

Vivafit: a women-only fitness concept analysis of the internationalization process

Globalization is a recent phenomenon that is pushing markets’ interdependency exponentially. To keep up with this trend, businesses are forced to expand operations due to diverse reasons. However, internationalization is a challenging step for the life of a business and this, many times, is retained by not knowing where to start. Although the research in international business has been growing along the globalization process, I found a lack of practical information that can help companies with little knowledge on the topic to take their companies abroad. As an attempt to provide this practical information to other Portuguese companies, I started by identifying one that currently has operations abroad and therefore analysed it. For this analysis, I conducted two interviews and researched articles about the company in order to obtain all the necessary information, as well as collected several theories and models developed by academics considered in international business studies. After connecting theoretical approaches to this real case, I was able to identify the stronger and weaker points of the internationalization process carried out by the company. Therefore, as a result, I used this information as a basis to create a practical framework that may help Portuguese companies to expand their businessesA globalização é um fenómeno recente que está a impulsionar exponencialmente a interdependência de mercados. Para acompanhar esta tendência, as empresas são obrigadas a expandir as operações pelas mais diversas razões. No entanto, a internacionalização é um passo desafiante na vida de uma empresa, sendo muitas vezes adiado por não se saber por onde começar. Embora a pesquisa em negócios internacionais tenha crescido ao longo da tendência da globalização, existe falta de informações práticas que possam ajudar empresas Portuguesas com menos conhecimento na área a levar o seu negócio para o exterior. De forma a tentar providenciar essas informações práticas, comecei por selecionar uma empresa portuguesa que tenha atualmente operações no exterior e, posteriormente, analiseia. Assim, para essa análise, realizei duas entrevistas e pesquisei artigos sobre a empresa de modo a obter todas as informações necessárias, incluindo várias teorias e modelos desenvolvidos por académicos abordadas na temática da internacionalização de empresas. Após relacionar as abordagens teóricas com o caso real da Vivafit, identifiquei os pontos mais fortes e mais fracos do processo de internacionalização da mesma. Por fim, utilizei essa informação como base para criar um modelo prático que possa ajudar as empresas portuguesas a expandir seus negócios da forma mais eficaz e eficiente