Lisbon as a nautical events destination: a new leisure and tourism attraction

The consequence of its geographical position the city of Lisbon has developed a close relationship with the river (Tagus river) and the sea (Atlantic Ocean). Portugal was one of the pioneering nations in the Sea Discoveries (intensive maritime exploration mainly during the 15th century). Lisbon was the port of departure for these adventures. This fact early conditioned the relationship of the city with the river and the sea, and organized the city waterfront as a space mostly devoted to economic activity and commercial trading. With the development of tourism in Europe, Portugal has established itself as a major European destination and Lisbon, as result of its historical heritage, an important city-break destination. In this conversion process Lisbon has reinvented its relationship with the river. The waterfront has been taken as a strategic point of tourism attraction and development. In this context, nautical tourism has assumed particular prominence, both as a tourism product, and also associated with major international yachting events which have put Lisbon in world news.Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), European Commission (EC

Mapping information systems maturity: the case of the portuguese hospitality industry

Hospitality is a highly competitive market that struggles to improve its performance. The use of technology is a critical factor for more efficient performance. To understand decision-makers' perception of information systems' influence and importance in their organisations, we conduct a case study in Portugal. The objective was to assess information systems' maturity level of independent hotels and small hotel chains, mapping the level to the hotel's characteristics. In addition, this study explores the types of systems used and hoteliers' main factors, drivers, and limitations to invest in information systems' maturity. We examined 86 companies, representing a total of 195 hotels. The analysis design was done following the Network Exploitation Capability (NEC) model. We found that, generally, hoteliers consider that their companies take more advantage of technology and information systems than they really do. These findings emphasise the importance of the use of technology in hospitality performance and the lack of knowledge that hoteliers have on the subject.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of chromossomal structure on the evolution of Schizosaccharomyces pombe undergoing Mutation Accumulation

Large chromosomal rearrangements are common in natural populations and thought to be involved in speciation events. In this project, we used experimental evolution to determine how the speed of evolution and the type of accumulated mutations depend on the ancestral chromosomal structure and genotype. We utilized two Wild Type strains and a set of genetically engineered Schizosaccharomyces pombe strains, different solely in the presence of a certain type of chromosomal variant (inversions or translocations), along with respective controls. Previous research has shown that these chromosomal variants have different fitness levels in several environments, probably due to changes in the gene expression along the genome. These strains were propagated in the laboratory at very low population sizes, in which we expect natural selection to be less efficient at purging deleterious mutations. We then measured these strains’ changes in fitness throughout this accumulation of deleterious mutations, comparing the evolutionary trajectories in the different rearrangements to understand if the chromosomal structure affected the speed of evolution. We also tested these mutations for possible epistatic effects and estimated their parameters: the number of arising deleterious mutations per generation (Ud) and each one’s mean effect (sd)

Bio-Inspired Modality Fusion for Active Speaker Detection

Human beings have developed fantastic abilities to integrate information from various sensory sources exploring their inherent complementarity. Perceptual capabilities are therefore heightened enabling, for instance, the well known "cocktail party" and McGurk effects, i.e. speech disambiguation from a panoply of sound signals. This fusion ability is also key in refining the perception of sound source location, as in distinguishing whose voice is being heard in a group conversation. Furthermore, Neuroscience has successfully identified the superior colliculus region in the brain as the one responsible for this modality fusion, with a handful of biological models having been proposed to approach its underlying neurophysiological process. Deriving inspiration from one of these models, this paper presents a methodology for effectively fusing correlated auditory and visual information for active speaker detection. Such an ability can have a wide range of applications, from teleconferencing systems to social robotics. The detection approach initially routes auditory and visual information through two specialized neural network structures. The resulting embeddings are fused via a novel layer based on the superior colliculus, whose topological structure emulates spatial neuron cross-mapping of unimodal perceptual fields. The validation process employed two publicly available datasets, with achieved results confirming and greatly surpassing initial expectations.Comment: Submitted to IEEE RA-L with IROS option, 202

3D DEM model simulation of asphalt mastics with sunflower oil

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).A three-dimensional particle model, based on the asphalt mastic micro-structure representation following a discrete element model framework, was developed to investigate the influence of sunflower oil (rejuvenator) on the rheological properties of asphalt mastic. Dynamic shear rheometer tests in laboratory, for a frequency range of 0.1–20 Hz and temperatures in a range between 20 and 80 ∘C, were carried out in order to assess the viscoelastic behaviour of asphalt mastics containing different oil-to-bitumen content by mass proportions (2.5–20%). Master curves were constructed for two reference temperatures (30 ∘C and 50 ∘C). Experimental results showed that the increase in sunflower oil content resulted in a progressive decrease in viscosity. However, the rheological behaviour of the mastic containing the highest oil amount could not be properly represented in master curves, indicating that the specimen had a different rheological behaviour when compared with the lower oil contents responses. Numerical simulations of rheometer tests were carried out with an asphalt mastic particle assembly that emulated the experimental procedure. The viscoelastic contacts within the asphalt mastic assembly were simulated with a generalized Kelvin contact model. A calibration procedure was derived based on the fitting of laboratory data. The simulations were shown to have a good agreement with laboratory values. The average errors for the dynamic shear modulus and phase angle were 3.4% and 4.0%, respectively, considering both temperatures of analysis. Finally, a considerable improvement was accomplished in comparison with the numerical response obtained with the often-used Burgers model.publishersversioninpres

Image Geocoding as a Service

Driven by the ambition of a global geocoding solution, in this paper we present the architecture of an image geocoding service. It takes advantage of the ubiquity of cameras, that are present in almost all smartphones. It is an inexpensive sensor yet powerful, that can be used to provide precise location and orientation. This geocoding service provides an API similar to existing ones for place names and addresses, like Google Geocoding API. Instead of a text based query, images can be submitted to estimate the location and orientation of the user. Developers can use this new API, keeping almost all the existing code already used for other geocoding APIs. Behind the scenes, image features are extracted from the submitted photograph, and compared against a huge database of georeferenced models. These models were constructed using structure from motion (SFM) techniques, and heavily reduced to a representative set of all information using Synthetic Views. Our preliminary results shows that the pose estimation of the majority of the images submitted to our geocoding was successfully computed (more than 60%) with the mean positional error around 2 meters. With this service, an inexpensive outdoor/indoor location service can be provided, for example, for urban environments, where GPS fails

Meso-Scale Discrete Element Method Approach

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Encapsulated rejuvenators embedded in asphalt mixtures are a promising technology to extend the service life of asphalt pavements. However, their effects on the asphalt mixture’s performance still need to be properly understood. A recently developed three-dimensional discrete element method framework enables the evaluation of non-homogeneous distributions of the rejuvenator, closely resembling real conditions. This includes different scenarios involving capsule content and release efficiency. The presented numerical results show that the rejuvenator-to-mastic ratio and the number of rejuvenator-modified contacts influence the stiffness properties of asphalt mixtures. In cases where a homogeneous rejuvenator distribution is assumed, the three-dimensional DEM model predicts a significant reduction in the asphalt mixture’s stiffness that compromises the pavement’s performance. Simulations show that the diffusion effect needs to be considered for predicting the post-healed behavior of asphalt mixtures. For cases considering more suitable modified mastic amounts (less than 1.20 wt%), the effect on the asphalt mixture’s stiffness modulus is less pronounced, and the phase angle is not significantly affected. Additionally, the presented simulations suggest that the capsule content can be increased up to 0.75 wt%, and capsules with a release rate higher than 48% can be used without compromising the rheological performance of asphalt mixtures, possibly improving their self-healing properties. These numerical insights should be considered in future designs to achieve optimal post-healed behavior.publishersversionpublishe

An integrated reusable remote laboratory to complement electronics teaching

The great majority of the courses on science and technology areas where lab work is a fundamental part of the apprenticeship was not until recently available to be taught at distance. This reality is changing with the dissemination of remote laboratories. Supported by resources based on new information and communication technologies, it is now possible to remotely control a wide variety of real laboratories. However, most of them are designed specifically to this purpose, are inflexible and only on its functionality they resemble the real ones. In this paper, an alternative remote lab infrastructure devoted to the study of electronics is presented. Its main characteristics are, from a teacher's perspective, reusability and simplicity of use, and from a students' point of view, an exact replication of the real lab, enabling them to complement or finish at home the work started at class. The remote laboratory is integrated in the Learning Management System in use at the school, and therefore, may be combined with other web experiments and e-learning strategies, while safeguarding security access issues

Criação e exploração de atividades interativas multimédia com um aluno portador do síndrome de Down

Este estudo foca-se na criação e exploração de atividades interativas multimédia para alunos portadores do Síndrome de Down e baseia-se num estudo de caso envolvendo um aluno, a frequentar o ensino básico no Agrupamento de Escolas de Mirandela. Centrase, deste modo, na metodologia de estudo de caso único e pretende-se avaliar as Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação, nomeadamente o multimédia, como um instrumento facilitador da inserção emocional e aprendizagem no meio escolar. Atendendo às potencialidades das novas tecnologias o estudo dirige-se para a integração das mesmas em sala de aula, através da construção de ambientes de aprendizagem diferenciados e individualizados, fazendo com que o aluno se integre no próprio processo de construção, o aluno é coautor na criação dos recursos para as atividades. A ferramenta utilizada para a elaboração das atividades multimédia foi o Edilim. O envolvimento do aluno portador do síndrome no processo de elaboração e aprendizagem através destas atividades revelou-se bastante interessante e permitiu-nos tirar conclusões em relação à empatia na realização dos recursos, sobre a motivação na aprendizagem, sobre a aquisição de novos conhecimentos e sobre a forma como transportou as vivências desta experiência para o contexto familiar. Com este estudo verificou-se que o aluno através da criação dos recursos e exploração das atividades interativas multimédia, adquiriu conhecimentos de uma forma autónoma, com motivação, com muita empatia e com pouca dificuldade. This study focuses on the creation and exploitation of interactive multimedia activities for students with Down's Syndrome and is based on a case study involving a student, attending primary school in Mirandela Group of Schools. It focuses therefore on the methodology of single case study and aims to assess the Information Technologies and Communication, in particular the media, as a tool to facilitate the insertion and emotional learning in schools. Given the potential of new technologies this study is aimed to integrate them into the classroom, through the construction of various learning environments and individualized, causing the student to integrate the construction process itself, the student is co-author in the creation of resources for activities. The tool used for the preparation of multimedia activities was Edilim. The involvement of the student with the syndrome in the preparation and learning through these activities proved to be quite interesting and allowed us to draw conclusions regarding the achievement of empathy resources on motivation in learning on the acquisition of new knowledge and on how the experiences carried this experience to the family context. This study found that the student acquired knowledge in an autonomous and motivated way, with great empathy and with little difficulty, through the creation of resources and exploitation of interactive multimedia activities