An analysis of students’ behaviour in a Learning Management System through Process Mining

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThe exponential growth and transformation of the Internet and information technology in recent years led to the development of several analytical tools. As is the case with process mining, it emerged to fulfill the need to extract and analyze information from event logs by representing it in the form of process models. Process mining is an acclaimed tool and proved crucial in several areas, from healthcare to manufacturing and finance. Nevertheless, and despite the crucial role of digital systems in supporting learning activities and generating large amounts of data about learning processes, limited research focused on process mining applied to the educational context. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to apply a process-oriented approach and demonstrate the applicability of process mining techniques to explore and analyze students’ behavior and interaction patterns, based on data collected from Moodle, the widely used Learning Management System. We cover definitions of process mining, education, and a detailed search of the existing literature on educational process mining during this work. Furthermore, the paper analyzes and discusses the findings of the study that combines process mining techniques, specifically process discovery implanted in the Disco tool, with cluster analysis. Through the application of these two techniques, it was possible to recognize the relationship between the students’ behavior registered in the process models and the success of the students in the course, along with the general and specific information about the students’ learning paths. Besides, we obtained findings that allow us to predict the group of students at risk of failing. Finally, with the analysis of these results, we were able to provide improvement proposals and recommendations to enhance the learning experience

The case of communicative intransitive gestures: further developments on a dual mechanism for motor control of action in imitation

Imitation is classically thought of as a mechanism that allows learning from demonstration. Several are the models that offer an explanation of how human imitation is accomplished. Observations of brain damaged patients, healthy subjects and brain imaging data can be found in support of both unique mechanistic models and dual route models (Chapter 1) . Two sets of evidence from neuropsychology and normal experimental psychology support the need of independent mechanisms that can account for either imitation of novel, meaningless actions or familiar, meaningful actions..

How emotions are shaped within services organizations: empirical studies among Portuguese nurses and physicians.

The management of emotions is an important component of the work of frontline employees, since more and more interactions between customers and employees are valued and affect their perceptions of service quality. In healthcare, the management of emotions takes greater proportions compared to other service organizations because of the proximity and frequency of relationships between customers and employees and the intensity of emotions. Aiming to contribute to the study of the management of emotions in healthcare, namely the positivity, perspectives and antecedents we developed three studies. The first qualitative study intends to study in a deeper way what physicians, nurses and patients think about the expression and suppression of emotions, that is, the management of emotions. Two different patterns have been found which represent what these individuals perceive as a quality service. Some participants are in favor of expressing emotions and maintaining close and lasting relationships - what we call “relational engagement”. While others are in favor of hiding or supressing emotions and keeping a distance - what we call "performative engagement". The second conceptual study proposes that there may be other alternative than engage in emotional labor. Employees are expected to supress or fake their emotions, because there is a presumption that employees inner feelings are not congruent with the emotions that the organization wants them to display. However, employees may also want to act authentically. With employee emotional empowerment employees have the power and ability to manage their emotions in a way they feel 10 more appropriate to the situation and the customer, minimizing feelings of burnout, stress and job turnover. The third quantitative study aims to analyze the impact that the work environment may have on the emotional labor performance. It is certain that during their working day healthcare professionals have to deal with intense emotional situations. This forces them to manage their emotions in a strategic way. Some factors are decisive for the management of emotions, such as the work environment. We found that when nurses perceive their work environment as positive they do not tend to adopt a deep acting strategy. With these studies we intend to clearer the management of emotions in a service context as special as healthcare

Exploring the attitudes and behaviors of the Portuguese towards intellectual property rights infrigement and copies

Exploring the Attitudes and the Perception of the Portuguese toward Property Right Infringement and Copies This study develops work on the Portuguese purchasing habits regarding Intellectual Property Infringement products and copies. Ahybrid research approach was used: both qualitative and quantitative insights were gathered. The main conclusions reached were that while counterfeits and pirated items are treated equally, they are different from copies in the consumer’s mind. This barrier lies in the legality of the matter. Being a seller of these articles is deemed more incorrect than being its purchaser. Two behaviors stand out: people who do not feel ashamed by practicing unlawful practices and showing, and decreased propensity to purchase if the intention is gifting others

A sentence-completion task

Funding Information: JC was financed by national funding through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., on the scope of Norma Transitória DL57/2016/CP1439/CT02 and received also national funding from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P, through the Research Center for Psychological Science of the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon (UIDB/04527/2020 and UIDP/04527/2020). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript.It has been proposed that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle both with response initiation and with response inhibition, both of which are functions of the executive system. Experimental tasks are unlikely pure measures of a single cognitive domain, and in this study we aim at understanding the contributions of response initiation difficulties to possible deficits in inhibitory control in autism. A sample of adults diagnosed with ASD and a control sample participated in this study. To participants it was asked to perform a sentence-completion task with two different condition: Part A—targeting response initiation and Part B—engaging inhibitory processes. Importantly, we have analyzed the B-A latencies that have been proposed for the removal of the response initiation confound effect. Results show that no differences between the groups were found in accuracy measures, either in Part A (ASD: M = 0.78; Controls: M = 0.90) nor Part B (ASD: M = 0.03; Controls: M = 0.02). However, in both conditions autistic participants were significantly slower to respond than the group of participants with typical development (Part A—ASD: M = 2432.5 ms; Controls M = 1078.5 ms; Part B—ASD M = 6758.3 ms; Controls M = 3283.9 ms). Critically, we show that when subtracting the response times of Part A from Part B (B-A latencies) no group differences attributable to inhibitory processes remained (ASD: M = 4325.76; Controls: M = 2205.46). With this study we corroborate the existence of difficulties with response initiation in autism and we question the existence of troubles in inhibition per se.publishersversionpublishe

Preliminary effects of intermittent light stimulation

Funding Information: This study was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), under the grant UIDB/05380/2020. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors have no relevant financial or non‐financial interests to disclose. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The British Psychological Society.Several authors have contributed extensively to the neurocognitive understanding of timing. In Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on the contrary, internal timing and its functioning is not well understood. In this study, we have adapted a simple finger-tapping motor task, with a timing component, as we aim at understanding whether the processing of time is preserved in this population. We have tested a group of people on the autism spectrum without intellectual disabilities and a control sample recruited from the general population, matched for age, sex, schooling and general cognitive abilities on this task with a learning and testing phase. In the testing phase, we have added two exploratory conditions where participants were exposed to intermittent light stimulation of 4 and 8 Hz. Results show that both in the learning and testing phase, besides troubles in the motor component encountered by the people on the spectrum, their timing component performance was also problematic. This reveals to be especially true for time intervals below the 1 s range, as hypothesized, whereas performance in longer intervals is clearly preserved. It was also observed that the exposure to intermittent light stimulation specifically overcomes the difficulties observed in the autistic group, at the timing components at this millisecond time range. The observed timing difficulties in this group seem to be restricted to the system responsible for the processing of time intervals in the milliseconds range, which helps accommodate disparate findings in the literature.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

A obesidade infantil: um problema emergente

A obesidade é um dos problemas de saúde mais graves que afecta crianças e adolescentes a nível mundial. As evidências sugerem que o problema está a agravar-se rapidamente. O aumento da prevalência de obesidade infantil pode fazer com que a próxima geração apresente indicadores de obesidade no adulto superiores aos indicadores actuais. Pelo facto de a obesidade estar intimamente associada a diferentes patologias crónicas faz com que estejamos perante um enorme desafio para o sistema de cuidados de saúde. A definição de obesidade em crianças é dificultada pelo facto de ser um processo caro e pouco prático. O índice de massa corporal (IMC) é utilizado como indicador de obesidade no adulto. Nas crianças e adolescentes, é consensual a utilização dos percentis obtidos estatisticamente através de uma população de referência. O tratamento recomendado para que crianças e adolescentes com excesso de peso consigam atingir um peso mais saudável utiliza quatro estratégias comportamentais primárias: redução do aporte energético, aumento do gasto energético, participação activa dos pais e educadores no processo de mudança e ajuda do ambiente familiar de suporte. A prevenção do excesso de peso é critica para um tratamento com sucesso devido aos resultados a longo prazo. Factores genéticos, ambientais ou a combinação de factores de risco que predispõem a criança ou adolescente para a obesidade podem e devem ser identificados. As famílias devem ser educadas antecipadamente para reconhecer o impacto que têm nos hábitos alimentares e de actividade física na vida das crianças e adolescentes. Práticas alimentares que incentivem a moderação em vez do consumo excessivo devem ser promovidas, enfatizando escolhas alimentares saudáveis em vez de padrões alimentares restritivos. Actividade física regular deve ser promovida de forma prioritária no ambiente familiar, escolar e comunitário. O caminho ideal para a prevenção é aliar a intervenção dietética com a actividade física. As crianças e adolescentes devem ser ajudados precocemente a desenvolver hábitos alimentares e de actividade física, porque as intervenções tornam-se mais efectivas quando os hábitos comportamentais se estão a formar. Neste artigo são apresentadas a epidemiologia, a avaliação, o tratamento e a prevenção associado a este fenómeno de saúde pública

Evolving the enterprise resource planning system in use to improve control management: a case study in the communications and multimedia services trade

This research aims to understand how and why an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system should evolve to improve management control. Having as supporting theory the ERP system, the holistic single case study method was applied in a communications and multimedia services trading company. Data collection was based on documents, participant observation and interview with the company manager. The main results showed the need to change the ERP system in order to allow disaggregating information to greater detail. Such disaggregation was evidenced for accounting reporting, costs per vehicle, costs per driver, nonfinancial performance per employee and performance per store. As an extension of theory, the need for management accounting to build disaggregated information and the interdependence of adaptive Information Systems (ISs) are reinforced.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How we Plan to make cars more affordable in Portugal - marketing plan

This business plan for an online vehicle marketplace with twist was carried out within the scope of our master thesis project, for the final master’s degree in Management, with the guidance of Professor Euclides Major. The development of this business plan aimed to transmit all our study towards the plan to build a successful company and use our learnings to continue scaling it after submission. We had the opportunity to explore all areas within a business as a team and gained valuable insights into the Portuguese car market and how it works

PLGA Based Drug Carrier and Pharmaceutical Applications: The Most Recent Advances

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is one of the most successful polymers that has been used to produce medicines, such as drug carriers (DC) [...]</jats:p