New Challenges on Crossplatform Digital Contents

When we speak about devices and platforms, generally we think about those of general use which are currently available (mainly smartphones and tablets). Surely, we would forget all those which are on the way (watches, glasses, cars) and those which are coming. The Internet of Things will transform the technological world in which we are into an amalgamation of devices and interfaces. This paper analyses the challenge for the coming years of getting all these new devices to communicate between them, regardless of their technology and the platforms they use, and it is based on the works done under the Visio Project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. Finally, a truly universal platform to avoid market fragmentation and provide access to information and services is proposed

Portable Game Based Instruction of American Sign Language

In this thesis, we address the effectiveness of portable gaming devices as a vehicle for learning American Sign Language. We begin by creating a multi-level game using a standard programming language, and use the game to illustrate various signed words. We translate the game to mobile devices using Kivy, a crossplatform framework. This allows the game to be compatible with multiple mobile devices and platforms. A secondary inspiration for creating a game as opposed to standard memorization techniques is to stimulate a quicker learning response as the user enjoys the sign learning process. In this thesis we provide a mobile avenue for learning American Sign Language and create a fun and stimulating learning process to strengthen the immersion of the user

Newspaper apps for tablets and smartphones in different media systems: A comparative analysis

[Abstract] This article proposes a comparative analysis of the newspaper apps developed for tablets and smartphones within different media systems. It studies the multimediality, interactivity and commercialization models adopted by newspaper publishers and journalists for these apps. The theoretical framework embraces two main topics: the media system models, starting from Hallin and Mancini’s proposal, and the characteristics of the media systems, particularly in the countries selected for this sample, focusing on the digital and mobile media scenario. In order to collect comparable data from a common source, we have selected indicators from Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016. The total number of app versions analysed came to 148 (81 for smartphones and 67 for tablets) from 20 newspapers in 10 different countries. One conclusion is that newspapers’ commitment to the tablet and smartphone, in general, tends to be conservative and far from independent of pre-existing print and web-based media. This article shows how media systems have become more complex in the digital scenario, in which apps are an important, but not exclusive, aspect. So, it is necessary to take into account trends in news globalization and ‘convergent journalism’. Finally, this research confirms that crossplatform management and multichannel strategies are still weak, which has consequences for the innovation of app editions

Editor's Note

The term 'Digital Economy' was coined for the first time by Don Tapscott in 1995 in his best-seller The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence. When he wrote the book 20 years ago, he announced how he thought the Internet would fully transform the nature of business and government. We have now extended the concept, illustrating how digital technologies are rapidly transforming business practices, the economy and societies. Technology, and its impact on business strategy and society, continues to rise in importance. The Digital Economy, sometimes also called “Digital Business” has become a philosophy for many top executive teams as they seek competitive advantages in a world of fast moving technological change. When we talk about digital technologies, we are not only talking about the internet, nor only ICT (Information and Communications Technology), but other concepts such as mobile, telecommunications or content. The digital economy is by no means an exclusively economic concept. Therefore, it might be more appropriate to speak of digital society or digital technology. What matters is that digital is a transverse concept that affects individuals, businesses and public administrations

Intranet-based Training Facilities ERP System Implementation: A Case Study

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems enable organizations to gain better control over their operations and costs by tightly integrating related business functions. This results in substantial savings. They provide a migration path from legacy systems to a client server environment. They also offer a solution to the year 2000 problem. This has led to a sharp increase in the demand for these systems. Implementation of ERP systems, however, is considered to be a high cost high risk project. Training is a key factor in implementation success. ERP implementation affects the roles of a large number of employees in an organization, who must be trained within a relatively short time period. Organizing and delivering such training in a cost effective and timely manner is a challenging task. Trainers are using innovative methods to accomplish this. Web- based training is recently gaining popularity as a convenient and economical means for imparting training to a large group of widely dispersed audience. In this article we describe an innovative use of intranet-based training to facilitate ERP implementation in a manufacturing organization

Structure-function specialisation of the interfascicular matrix in the human achilles tendon

Tendon consists of highly aligned collagen-rich fascicles surrounded by interfascicular matrix (IFM). Some tendons act as energy stores to improve locomotion efficiency, but such tendons commonly obtain debilitating injuries. In equine tendons, energy storing is achieved primarily through specialisation of the IFM. However, no studies have investigated IFM structure-function specialisation in human tendons. Here, we compare the human positional anterior tibial tendon and energy storing Achilles tendons, testing the hypothesis that the Achilles tendon IFM has specialised composition and mechanical properties, which are lost with ageing. Data demonstrate IFM specialisation in the energy storing Achilles, with greater elasticity and fatigue resistance than in the positional anterior tibial tendon. With ageing, alterations occur predominantly to the proteome of the Achilles IFM, which are likely responsible for the observed trends towards decreased fatigue resistance. Knowledge of these key energy storing specialisations and their changes with ageing offers crucial insight towards developing treatments for tendinopathy

A tool to simplify software log analysis

Projeto para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de ComputadoresLog analysis is a necessary, challenging, and time-consuming task for software development and maintenance. As with many fields of Information Technologies, there is an effort in the optimization of the logging process as well as on the analysis of the stored information. There is a severe lack of standardization on the log data representation, which poses challenges on the development of tools for log analysis. Another issue is the size of some log files, that can lead to slow searches. In this work, we develop a standalone log analysis tool. This tool has an intuitive and simple interface, such that it has a small learning curve for the user. For a typical user, its use should be straightforward. The open source tool provides some functionalities for text-based log files, displaying some indicators and graphs. Thus, it allows for the user to quickly locate the origin of the problems within the analysed code. Another testing tool was developed in the context of this work. This tool is a con figurable log file source generator providing the creation of different scenarios for log analysis. Use cases were written for all features, being evaluated and tested, both manually and programmatically.A análise de ficheiros de log é uma tarefa morosa e difícil mas necessária no desenvolvimento e manutenção de sistemas de software. Tal como muitas outras áreas das Tecnologias da Informação, existe um esforço por optimizar a forma como processamos e analisamos os dados contidos nos ficheiros de log. Nota-se numa grave falta de standardização na forma como os dados presentes nos ficheiros de log são escritos. Isto leva a que o desenvolvimento de ferramentas para a análise de logs seja muito desafiante. Adicionalmente, a dimensão dos ficheiros de logs provoca dificuldades em termos de desempenho, em operações de leitura e procura. Neste trabalho desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta para análise de ficheiros de log. A interface é simples e intuitiva, tendo como objectivo que a curva de aprendizagem para o utilizador seja o mais reduzida possível. Assume-se que o utilizador alvo tem conhecimentos básicos de programação. Esta ferramenta será open source e fornece algumas funcionalidades para a análise de ficheiros de log, mostrando alguns indicadores e gráficos, permitindo ao utilizador localizar rapidamente a fonte dos problemas nos ficheiros analisados. Adicionalmente, desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta para auxílio dos testes. Esta ferramenta é um gerador de logs configurável de forma a poder gerar diferentes cenários de teste. As funcionalidades foram especificadas e foram validadas manualmente e por testes unitários.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Connected Car: technologies, issues, future trends

The connected car -a vehicle capable of accessing to the Internet, of communicating with smart devices as well as other cars and road infrastructures, and of collecting real-time data from multiple sources- is likely to play a fundamental role in the foreseeable Internet Of Things. In a context ruled by very strong competitive forces, a significant amount of car manufacturers and software and hardware developers have already embraced the challenge of providing innovative solutions for new generation vehicles. Today’s cars are asked to relieve drivers from the most stressful operations needed for driving, providing them with interesting and updated entertainment functions. In the meantime, they have to comply to the increasingly stringent standards about safety and reliability. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the possibilities offered by connected functionalities on cars and the associated technological issues and problems, as well as to enumerate the currently available hardware and software solutions and their main features

Challenges and opportunities of mobile payments innovations

Innovation in financial services is a major trend on the sector and the payments industry is no exception to that. New ways of paying, as mobile payments, are emerging and changing the payments market. Non-financial institutions are entering the market through the provision of mobile payments, threatening the dominant position banks hold in the industry. This thesis aim is to analyze mobile payments as a service innovation, primarily through the spectrum of banks as old incumbents in this market. To understand the traits and main characteristics of these products, as well as how innovation in mobile payments is changing or even creating a new market. The results of the study suggest that we are facing a radical innovation, according to the Gallouj and Weinstein (1997) modes and models of innovation, as there is a completely new system behind mobile payments services. This innovation is assuming different forms and is still hard to infer if mobile payments are creating a new market, as these kind of services are still majorly seen by experts in the area, who were interviewed for this study, as a complement to other ways of paying, regardless of being a complete new system with different competences needed for operating. With regard to the new and different providers of these services operating in the market, it was found that they can be segmented into three clusters with different characteristics: Banks, which are the traditional incumbents of this market; Mobile Network Operators & Manufacturers, which are extremely focused on technology and data; Others, which include companies from other sectors, fintechs or other startups, characterized by being very innovative and flexible. These new services come with new market dynamics involving companies that traditionally were not associated with the provision of financial services, and threatening the relevance banks used to have in the payments industry.A inovação nos serviços financeiros é uma tendência geral do sector e a área dos pagamentos não é exceção. A área financeira dos pagamentos tem sofrido enormes mudanças, o que está a ter implicações nos mercados financeiros, e em particular nos serviços de pagamentos. Várias instituições não financeiras estão a entrar no mercado através da criação de novos serviços de pagamentos móveis, ameaçando a posição dominante que os bancos possuíam na área. Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar os pagamentos móveis enquanto uma inovação em serviços, focando principalmente a perspetiva dos bancos que tradicionalmente possuíam uma posição dominante neste mercado. A tese pretende entender e discutir as principais características destes produtos inovadores de pagamentos móveis, bem como se estes novos serviços estão a mudar ou mesmo a criar um novo mercado. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que estamos perante uma inovação radical, pois de acordo com os modos e modelos de inovação de Gallouj e Weinstein (1997), os serviços de pagamentos móveis são um novo sistema de pagamentos. Esta inovação tem assumido diferentes formas, havendo ainda um elevado grau de ambiguidade quanto à sua capacidade de geração de um novo mercado, já que este tipo de serviços são considerados por especialistas da área, que foram entrevistados no âmbito deste estudo, como um complemento a outros métodos de pagamento. Isto, apesar de se tratar de um sistema novo com diferentes competências necessárias à sua execução e utilização. O estudo conclui que os fornecedores destes serviços podem ser segmentados em três clusters com diferentes características: Bancos, os tradicionais incumbentes deste mercado; Fabricantes e Operadores de redes móveis, que são extremamente focados em tecnologia e data; Outros, incluindo empresas de outros sectores, fintechs e outras start-ups, caracterizados por serem extremamente inovadores e flexíveis. O estudo evidência que estes novos serviços de pagamentos trazem novas dinâmicas ao mercado envolvendo empresas que tradicionalmente não estariam associados à prestação de serviços financeiros, o que ameaça a relevância dos bancos no sector dos pagamentos

DEVELOPING A METADATA REPOSITORY FOR DISTRIBUTED FILE ANNOTATION AND SHARING

Research data is being generated and modified at an increasingly accelerated rate. Iterations and derivations are being crafted at an almost equal velocity. With this increase comes a growing need to track the metadata about the data being generated. Where did this dataset originate? What exactly do the column headers mean? Who was the original publisher? Do I have the latest version of the data? This is to only name a few. As data is shared second or third-hand, or via alternative methods such as physical media or cloud based storage mechanisms, the veracity of the implicit metadata becomes circumstantial. This research quantified and contrasted existing file metadata management solutions, showing their inadequacy to solve the above stated problem, and highlighted the need for a new solution. The system subsequently established and developed by this research was designed to allow for arbitrary file metadata definitions across file systems in a collaborative manner, while facilitating platform independence and easy adoption