Programming language complexity analysis and its impact on Checkmarx activities

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Informatics EngineeringTools for Programming Languages processing, like Static Analysers (for instance, a Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tool, one of Checkmarx’s main products), must be adapted to cope with a given input when the source programming language changes. Complexity of the programming language is one of the key factors that deeply impact the time of giving support to it. This Master’s Project aims at proposing an approach for assessing language complexity, measuring, at a first stage, the complexity of its underlying context-free grammar (CFG). From the analysis of concrete case studies, factors have been identified that make the support process more time-consuming, in particular in the stages of language recognition and in the transformation to an abstract syntax tree (AST). In this sense, at a second stage, a set of language features is analysed in order to take into account the referred factors that also impact on the language processing. The main objective of the Master’s work here reported is to help development teams to improve the estimation of time and effort needed to adapt the SAST Tool in order to cope with a new programming language. In this dissertation a tool is proposed, that allows for the evaluation of the complexity of a language based on a set of metrics to classify the complexity of its grammar, along with a set of language properties. The tool compares the new language complexity so far determined with previously supported languages, to predict the effort to process the new language.Ferramentas para processamento de Linguagens de Programação, como os Analisadores Estáticos (por exemplo, uma ferramenta de Testes Estáticos para Análise da Segurança de Aplicações, um dos principais produtos da Checkmarx), devem ser adaptadas para lidar com uma dada entrada quando a linguagem de programação de origem muda. A complexidade da linguagem de programação é um dos fatores-chave que influencia profundamente o tempo de suporte à mesma. Este projeto de Mestrado visa propor uma abordagem para avaliar a complexidade de uma linguagem de programação, medindo, numa primeira fase, a complexidade da gramática independente de contexto (GIC) subjacente. A partir da análise de casos concretos, foram identificados fatores (relacionados como facilidades específicas oferecidas pela linguagem) que tornam o processo de suporte mais demorado, em particular nas fases de reconhecimento da linguagem e na transformação para uma árvore de sintaxe abstrata (AST). Neste sentido, numa segunda fase, foi identificado um conjunto de características linguísticas de modo a ter em conta os referidos fatores que também têm impacto no processamento da linguagem. O principal objetivo do trabalho de mestrado aqui relatado é auxiliar as equipas de desenvolvimento a melhorar a estimativa do tempo e esforço necessários para adaptar a ferramenta SAST de modo a lidar com uma nova linguagem de programação. Como resultado deste projeto, tal como se descreve na dissertação, é proposta uma ferramenta, que permite a avaliação da complexidade de uma linguagem com base num conjunto de métricas para classificar a complexidade da sua gramática, e em um conjunto de propriedades linguísticas. A ferramenta compara a complexidade da nova linguagem, avaliada por aplicação do processo referido, com as linguagens anteriormente suportadas, para prever o esforço para processar a nova linguagem

APPLICATION OF "THEMATIC ANALYSIS" TO A SET OF BUSINESSES SUCCESS STORIES IN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS

This current work is an example of applying the methodology of "thematic analysis" to a set of business success stories in the process of internationalization. It is assumed that these cases, as a hypothesis, constitute discourses obtained appropriately allowing synthesizing and relating some of the basic features inherent in the internationalization of companies. Results showed the prevalence of stimuli intrinsic to the company, to the detriment of extrinsic stimuli, and lower incidence that companies expose their barriers to internationalization. In the area of internationalization of firms, it confirms the association of entrepreneurial characteristics and the fundamental export nature of Portuguese business companies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pillars of the Global Innovation Index by income level of economies: longitudinal data (2011-2022) for researchers’ use

It is widely known that the Global Innovation Index reports are of unique value for research purposes. The aim of this work is to provide a panel data file with all pillars of the Global Innovation Index from 2011 until 2022, covering all available economies (149 in total) by income level. After the secondary data was gathered, it was reshaped in an exhaustive process that involved directly importing it from databases or manual insertion. Based on successive Global Innovation Index reports and World Bank data, this work attempts to provide a whole set of data on the incomes of world economies by using Gross Domestic Product per capita based on purchasing power parity (constant 2017 international $and current international$) and Gross National Income per capita in current U.S. dollars (Atlas method). A descriptive analysis is also provided of data and inferences drawn based on the income differences between economies. The data compilation shared here has a singular relevance as it makes a large amount of structured information easier to access. Moreover, data from subsequent years or even from new entries of economies in the Global Innovation Index reports could be added to the data file. As a practical implication, this work should be considered a reliable tool for quantitative research directly or indirectly related with innovation topics (policies, ecosystems, technologies, programmes, among others), as it reduces the time-consuming process of gathering data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Precision Agriculture: Strategies and Technology Adoption

This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Agriculture Adoption StrategiesThe purpose of this Special Issue was to publish high-quality research and review papers that cover the definition of strategies that may promote the adoption of PA, assessing the adoption rates, bottlenecks for adoption, adoption promotion, strategic plans, and incentives. The Special Issue covers nine peer-reviewed research papers and one systematic review paperinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Entrepreneurship in secondary and tertiary sectors: The same determinants?

The aim of this study is to test empirically the determinants of entre preneurship (overall and sectoral) in the Portuguese economy. Despite the metho dological limitations inherent in such studies, which are mainly due to the incompatibility of some series and the temporal limitations of some data, this challenge is fuelled by the novelty of a cross-sectoral view of the entrepreneurial phenomenon. For this purpose, we employ an estimation approach based on time series models to confirm (or reject) diverse hypotheses. The main results indicate that the determinants of entrepreneurship in the industry are significantly different from the determinants of entrepreneurship in the services sector in Portugal. On the other hand, the determinants of entrepreneurship in the service sector are very similar to those explaining the overall entrepreneurial activity, due to the high share of services in the total economic activity. The main conclusions of the study can guide institutional decision-makers to adopt adequate policies for promoting entrepreneurship in Portugal. Additionally, strategic routes are suggested for the sustainable development of entrepreneurial activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The geographical distribution of Portuguese business incubators: an empirical approach

This study attempts to develop an ordered logit regression model to identify the determinants of the geographical distribution of business incubators (BIs) in Portuguese regions in 2015. The results show that Portuguese BIs are more likely to be geographically concentrated in regions where the number of patent applications is higher, usually in the larger regions (particularly in metropolitan areas), and mostly in regions with a university. The study clearly demonstrates the importance of Portuguese universities to the location of BIs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Satisfação de clientes em centros aquáticos públicos um estudo empírico nas cidades de Bragança e Viseu

A amostra sobre a qual se desenvolve este trabalho foi obtida por conveniência. A amostra global que constitui o estudo é de 318 indivíduos, sendo 179, pertencentes ao distrito de Viseu, onde 44 pertencem ao concelho de Santa Comba dão, 43 ao concelho de Carregal do Sal, 42 ao concelho de Mortágua e 50 ao concelho de Tondela. Os restantes 127, pertencem ao concelho de Bragança, sendo respectivamente, 42 do concelho de Bragança, 15 do concelho. de Macedo, 31 de Mirandela e 39 de Vinhais

Real-Time Step Detection Using Unconstrained Smartphone

Nowadays smartphones are carrying more and more sensors among which are inertial sensors. These devices provide information about the movement and forces acting on the device, but they can also provide information about the movement of the user. Step detection is at the core of many smartphone applications such as indoor location, virtual reality, health and activity monitoring, and some of these require high levels of precision. Current state of the art step detection methods rely heavily in the prediction of the movements performed by the user and the smartphone or on methods of activity recognition for parameter tuning. These methods are limited by the number of situations the researchers can predict and do not consider false positive situations which occur in daily living such as jumps or stationary movements, which in turn will contribute to lower performances. In this thesis, a novel unconstrained smartphone step detection method is proposed using Convolutional Neural Networks. The model utilizes the data from the accelerometer and gyroscope of the smartphone for step detection. For the training of the model, a data set containing step and false step situations was built with a total of 4 smartphone placements, 5 step activities and 2 false step activities. The model was tested using the data from a volunteer which it has not previously seen. The proposed model achieved an overall recall of 89.87% and an overall precision of 87.90%, while being able to distinguish step and non-step situations. The model also revealed little difference between the performance in different smartphone placements, indicating a strong capability towards unconstrained use. The proposed solution demonstrates more versatility than state of the art alternatives, by presenting comparable results without the need of parameter tuning or adjustments for the smartphone use case, potentially allowing for better performances in free living scenarios