Reabilitação sustentável de edifício de habitação, em construção tradicional, no Baixo Alentejo

Dissertação de Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil Especialização em EdificaçõesA presente dissertação tem por finalidade introduzir a sustentabilidade na reabilitação e analisar os benefícios da mesma. Começa-se por realizar um enquadramento histórico da reabilitação e um enquadramento legal do desenvolvimento sustentável e da construção sustentável. Analisa-se o tipo de construção do Baixo Alentejo, região sobre a qual incide a dissertação e onde se encontra o edifício de habitação utilizado como caso de estudo, descrevendo a origem deste tipo de construção tradicional, a sua tipologia típica e a forma como é construída. As soluções que se pretendem introduzir no caso de estudo são simuladas nos programas Energy Plus e Design Builder, as quais foram selecionadas por não alterarem profundamente o tipo de construção e serem de fácil aplicação. Trata-se da substituição de equipamentos, iluminação, caixilharias e vidros e da introdução de estores pelo exterior devido à elevada incidência solar da zona. As soluções simuladas traduzem-se num sucesso na redução do consumo de energia eléctrica, diminuição de ganhos internos e na redução de emissão de Dióxido de Carbono para a atmosfera (melhoria em 50% a 68% com um retorno do investimento em 6 anos). Recomendam-se ainda três outras soluções, em que duas são aplicações da energia solar para a produção de electricidade e aquecimento de água e a terceira um sistema de aproveitamento da água da chuva para rega (com retorno do investimento em 16, 9 e 7 anos). Finaliza-se o trabalho avaliando os benefícios que as soluções e recomendações trazem ao caso de estudo (e ao restante parque edificado que as adopte) e apesar do seu investimento inicial elevado, a sua grande viabilidade económica traduz-se numa recuperação do investimento num médio/longo prazo.Abstract: The following dissertation has the objective of introducing sustainability in rehabilitation and analysing the benefits of such, in a country facing an economic crisis. It starts by making an historical framework of rehabilitation and a legal fra mework of sustainable development and construction. The typical Lower Alentejo construction is analysed, region in which this dissertation is developed, and in which the building used as a case study for this dissertation is located. The traditional Lower Alentejo construction is described. The solutions portrayed in the case study have been simulated in programs such as Energy Plus and Design Builder, and have been chosen due to the fact that they do not change drastically the type of construction and also because of their easiness to be applied. Solutions such as changing equipment, lighting, frames, windows and introducing exterior light shades given the high solar incidence of the region have been analysed. Such solutions succeed in reducing electrical consumption, reducing internal energy gains and also reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions to the atmosphere (improvement in 50% to 68% with a return on investment in 6 years). Three other solutions are recommended, two of them using solar energy to generate electricity and to heat water, being the third solution a system that reutilizes the rain water and uses it to water the plants (return on investment in 16, 9 and 7 years). This dissertation ends by analysing the benefits of all the solutions mentioned above, not only for the case study but for all other buildings that may adopt such solutions. Even though the initial investment is something to be aware of, the fact is that these solutions allow for a total return of the investment in a medium/long period of time

Automatic Completion of Text-based Tasks

Crowdsourcing is a widespread problem-solving model which consists in assigning tasks to an existing pool of workers in order to solve a problem, being a scalable alternative to hiring a group of experts for labeling high volumes of data. It can provide results that are similar in quality, with the advantage of achieving such standards in a faster and more efficient manner. Modern approaches to crowdsourcing use Machine Learning models to do the labeling of the data and request the crowd to validate the results. Such approaches can only be applied if the data in which the model was trained (source data), and the data that needs labeling (target data) share some relation. Furthermore, since the model is not adapted to the target data, its predictions may produce a substantial amount of errors. Consequently, the validation of these predictions can be very time-consuming. In this thesis, we propose an approach that leverages in-domain data, which is a labeled portion of the target data, to adapt the model. The remainder of the data is labeled based on these model’s predictions. The crowd is tasked with the generation of the in-domain data and the validation of the model’s predictions. Under this approach, train the model with only in-domain data and with both in-domain data and data from an outer domain. We apply these learning settings with the intent of optimizing a crowdsourcing pipeline for the area of Natural Language Processing, more concretely for the task of Named Entity Recognition (NER). This optimization relates to the effort required by the crowd to performed the NER task. The results of the experiments show that the usage of in-domain data achieves effort savings ranging from 6% to 53%. Furthermore, we such savings in nine distinct datasets, which demonstrates the robustness and application depth of this approach. In conclusion, the in-domain data approach is capable of optimizing a crowdsourcing pipeline of NER. Furthermore, it has a broader range of use cases when compared to reusing a model to generate predictions in the target data

Análise de vídeo sensível

Orientadores: Anderson de Rezende Rocha, Siome Klein GoldensteinTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Vídeo sensível pode ser definido como qualquer filme capaz de oferecer ameaças à sua audiência. Representantes típicos incluem ¿ mas não estão limitados a ¿ pornografia, violência, abuso infantil, crueldade contra animais, etc. Hoje em dia, com o papel cada vez mais pervasivo dos dados digitais em nossa vidas, a análise de conteúdo sensível representa uma grande preocupação para representantes da lei, empresas, professores, e pais, devido aos potenciais danos que este tipo de conteúdo pode infligir a menores, estudantes, trabalhadores, etc. Não obstante, o emprego de mediadores humanos, para constantemente analisar grandes quantidades de dados sensíveis, muitas vezes leva a ocorrências de estresse e trauma, o que justifica a busca por análises assistidas por computador. Neste trabalho, nós abordamos este problema em duas frentes. Na primeira, almejamos decidir se um fluxo de vídeo apresenta ou não conteúdo sensível, à qual nos referimos como classificação de vídeo sensível. Na segunda, temos como objetivo encontrar os momentos exatos em que um fluxo começa e termina a exibição de conteúdo sensível, em nível de quadros de vídeo, à qual nos referimos como localização de conteúdo sensível. Para ambos os casos, projetamos e desenvolvemos métodos eficazes e eficientes, com baixo consumo de memória, e adequação à implantação em dispositivos móveis. Neste contexto, nós fornecemos quatro principais contribuições. A primeira é uma nova solução baseada em sacolas de palavras visuais, para a classificação eficiente de vídeos sensíveis, apoiada na análise de fenômenos temporais. A segunda é uma nova solução de fusão multimodal em alto nível semântico, para a localização de conteúdo sensível. A terceira, por sua vez, é um novo detector espaço-temporal de pontos de interesse, e descritor de conteúdo de vídeo. Finalmente, a quarta contribuição diz respeito a uma base de vídeos anotados em nível de quadro, que possui 140 horas de conteúdo pornográfico, e que é a primeira da literatura a ser adequada para a localização de pornografia. Um aspecto relevante das três primeiras contribuições é a sua natureza de generalização, no sentido de poderem ser empregadas ¿ sem modificações no passo a passo ¿ para a detecção de tipos diversos de conteúdos sensíveis, tais como os mencionados anteriormente. Para validação, nós escolhemos pornografia e violência ¿ dois dos tipos mais comuns de material impróprio ¿ como representantes de interesse, de conteúdo sensível. Nestes termos, realizamos experimentos de classificação e de localização, e reportamos resultados para ambos os tipos de conteúdo. As soluções propostas apresentam uma acurácia de 93% em classificação de pornografia, e permitem a correta localização de 91% de conteúdo pornográfico em fluxo de vídeo. Os resultados para violência também são interessantes: com as abordagens apresentadas, nós obtivemos o segundo lugar em uma competição internacional de detecção de cenas violentas. Colocando ambas em perspectiva, nós aprendemos que a detecção de pornografia é mais fácil que a de violência, abrindo várias oportunidades de pesquisa para a comunidade científica. A principal razão para tal diferença está relacionada aos níveis distintos de subjetividade que são inerentes a cada conceito. Enquanto pornografia é em geral mais explícita, violência apresenta um espectro mais amplo de possíveis manifestaçõesAbstract: Sensitive video can be defined as any motion picture that may pose threats to its audience. Typical representatives include ¿ but are not limited to ¿ pornography, violence, child abuse, cruelty to animals, etc. Nowadays, with the ever more pervasive role of digital data in our lives, sensitive-content analysis represents a major concern to law enforcers, companies, tutors, and parents, due to the potential harm of such contents over minors, students, workers, etc. Notwithstanding, the employment of human mediators for constantly analyzing huge troves of sensitive data often leads to stress and trauma, justifying the search for computer-aided analysis. In this work, we tackle this problem in two ways. In the first one, we aim at deciding whether or not a video stream presents sensitive content, which we refer to as sensitive-video classification. In the second one, we aim at finding the exact moments a stream starts and ends displaying sensitive content, at frame level, which we refer to as sensitive-content localization. For both cases, we aim at designing and developing effective and efficient methods, with low memory footprint and suitable for deployment on mobile devices. In this vein, we provide four major contributions. The first one is a novel Bag-of-Visual-Words-based pipeline for efficient time-aware sensitive-video classification. The second is a novel high-level multimodal fusion pipeline for sensitive-content localization. The third, in turn, is a novel space-temporal video interest point detector and video content descriptor. Finally, the fourth contribution comprises a frame-level annotated 140-hour pornographic video dataset, which is the first one in the literature that is appropriate for pornography localization. An important aspect of the first three contributions is their generalization nature, in the sense that they can be employed ¿ without step modifications ¿ to the detection of diverse sensitive content types, such as the previously mentioned ones. For validation, we choose pornography and violence ¿ two of the commonest types of inappropriate material ¿ as target representatives of sensitive content. We therefore perform classification and localization experiments, and report results for both types of content. The proposed solutions present an accuracy of 93% in pornography classification, and allow the correct localization of 91% of pornographic content within a video stream. The results for violence are also compelling: with the proposed approaches, we reached second place in an international competition of violent scenes detection. Putting both in perspective, we learned that pornography detection is easier than its violence counterpart, opening several opportunities for additional investigations by the research community. The main reason for such difference is related to the distinct levels of subjectivity that are inherent to each concept. While pornography is usually more explicit, violence presents a broader spectrum of possible manifestationsDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computação1572763, 1197473CAPE

An Approach to the Soundscapes of Urban Vacant Lands in Lisbon

In this paper, we will present preliminary results of our ongoing study on the soundscapes of vacant lands in Lisbon Eastern Zone (LEZ). Our methodology comprised two stages. Firstly, all the vacant lands of Lisbon municipality were identified and georeferenced using remote sensing methods and high-resolution aerial photography. In the second stage, a field survey with the purpose of characterising the morphology, vegetation, and animal and human occupation of the vacant lands was conducted, along with field recordings of their soundscapes. The results of our study include the classification of vacant lands and of their soundscapes. We argue that listening to the sounds of urban vacant lands defies traditional notions of the urban soundscape as dominated by anthrophonies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A geopoetic exploration of the Matinha vacant land, Lisbon

Our purpose in this communication is to present an exploration of the Matinha vacant land in Lisbon. Initially a sonic exploration, this endeavour would turn to the figure of the natural cyborg, an almost silent formation that thrives in the site, in the form of vegetal-technological hybrids.N/

Chronicles from the wastelands: an exploration of the evental geographies of derelict urban areas

In this paper we propose to explore the life of urban wastelands. That is, we will unveil the actions that take place in these spaces, their human and non-human authors, and the dynamism that those actions produce in the space itself, provoking sensitive changes in the landscape.N/

Profile Detection Through Source Code Static Analysis

The present article reflects the progress of an ongoing master\u27s dissertation on language engineering. The main goal of the work here described, is to infer a programmer\u27s profile through the analysis of his source code. After such analysis the programmer shall be placed on a scale that characterizes him on his language abilities. There are several potential applications for such profiling, namely, the evaluation of a programmer\u27s skills and proficiency on a given language or the continuous evaluation of a student\u27s progress on a programming course. Throughout the course of this project and as a proof of concept, a tool that allows the automatic profiling of a Java programmer is under development. This tool is also introduced in the paper and its preliminary outcomes are discussed

Public’s vulnerability against abusive practices of communication employed by organizations: limitations for civil monitoring

The present article reflects on the matter of civil surveillance over abusive practices of communication employed by private organizations, addressing how such practices, focused on an attempt to corrupt public opinion, create a fuzzy category whose monitoring is permeated by obstacles and difficulties. Then specifically explores the practice of astroturfing, understood as a manifestation of a simulated public, reflecting how their logical and dynamics configure an ambiguous and indeterminate practice

Profile detection through source code static analysis

The present article reflects the progress of an ongoing master’s dissertation on language engineering. The main goal of the work here described, is to infer a programmer’s profile through the analysis of his source code. After such analysis the programmer shall be placed on a scale that characterizes him on his language abilities. There are several potential applications for such profiling, namely, the evaluation of a programmer’s skills and proficiency on a given language or the continuous evaluation of a student’s progress on a programming course. Throughout the course of this project and as a proof of concept, a tool that allows the automatic profiling of a Java programmer is under development. This tool is also introduced in the paper and its preliminary outcomes are discussed

New contributions on flora and vegetation of northeastern Portugal ultramafic outcrops

In this work we present some syntaxonomic novelties on the vegetation of the referred ultramafic outcrops focused on three new associations: Jonopsidio abulensis-Sedetum maireani, Armerio daveaui-Agrostietum castellanae and Seseli peixotoani- Avenuletum lusitanicae; in addition, a new nomenclatural combination of an endemic taxon from the Morais massif (Armeria langei subsp. marizii) is proposed. We also clarify the phytocoenotic structure of the Portuguese vegetation series through a simple diagrammatic representation, which is then applied to one unique climatophilous vegetation series present in the ultramafic rocks of northeastern Portugal: Genisto hystricis-Querco rotundifoliae Sigmetuminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio