Digital Historic Skies

The Adler Planetarium’s Digital Historic Skies will create an interactive mobile application that teaches the general public about art, history, and science in cultures throughout the world through the use of historic celestial maps and the current night sky. The application will incorporate citizen science data, a smartphone’s GPS, historic celestial cartography from different cultures, and current astronomical data. When users look at any region of the sky, they will easily access engaging and relevant historic, cultural, and contemporary astronomical information. The project has three major goals: 1) to develop an alpha prototype citizen science project to catalog celestial objects in Adler’s historic maps; 2) to develop a proof-of-concept prototype mobile phone application that teaches about cultures through historic celestial cartography; and 3) to draft implementation plans

Efficient execution of Java programs on GPU

Dissertação de mestrado em Informatics EngineeringWith the overwhelming increase of demand of computational power made by fields as Big Data, Deep Machine learning and Image processing the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) has been seen as a valuable tool to compute the main workload involved. Nonetheless, these solutions have limited support for object-oriented languages that often require manual memory handling which is an obstacle to bringing together the large community of object oriented programmers and the high-performance computing field. In this master thesis, different memory optimizations and their impacts were studied in a GPU Java context using Aparapi. These include solutions for different identifiable bottlenecks of commonly used kernels exploiting its full capabilities by studying the GPU hardware and current techniques available. These results were set against common used C/OpenCL benchmarks and respective optimizations proving, that high-level languages can be a solution to high-performance software demand.Com o aumento de poder computacional requisitado por campos como Big Data, Deep Machine Learning e Processamento de Imagens, as unidades de processamento gráfico (GPUs) tem sido vistas como uma ferramenta valiosa para executar a principal carga de trabalho envolvida. No entanto, esta solução tem suporte limitado para linguagens orientadas a objetos. Frequentemente estas requerem manipulação manual de memória, o que é um obstáculo para reunir a grande comunidade de programadores orientados a objetos e o campo da computação de alto desempenho. Nesta dissertação de mestrado, diferentes otimizações de memória e os seus impactos foram estudados utilizando Aparapi. As otimizações estudadas pretendem solucionar bottle-necks identificáveis em kernels frequentemente utilizados. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com benchmarks C / OpenCL populares e as suas respectivas otimizações, provando que as linguagens de alto nível podem ser uma solução para programas que requerem computação de alto desempenho

A Mother of Pearl Cross in the Convent of San Antonio de Padua in Seville

La cruz localizada en el convento de San Antonio de Padua (Sevilla) puede considerarse una de las piezas de nácar y ébano más importantes conservadas en España. A partir de cuestiones técnicas y decorativas se ha podido datar su factura en México en el siglo XVIII. Palabras clave: Cruz de Jerusalén, franciscanos, nácar, ébano, arte oriental, Filipinas, Méjico, siglo XVIIIThe cross found in the convent of San Antonio de Padua (Seville) can be considered one of the most interesting mother-of-pearl and ebony work preserved in Spain. Several technical and decorative reasons allow date its origin in Mexico in the 18th century. Keywords: Jerusalem cross, Franciscan, mother-of-pearl (MOP), ebony, orient art, Philippines, Mexico, 18th centur

Analysis of Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in Portugal and its Overseas Territories

This paper investigates the Japanese direct investment in Portugal overseas territories (or Provinces) and in its mainland. It shows the impact of Portugal’s integration into the European Economic Community that after the 1980s has contributed to the boost of the Japanese direct investment in Portugal. In addition, this paper explains the effects of Japanese FDI in Portugal through the affiliates regional sitting and typology in Portugal. Finally, it takes into account the relationship between trade and foreign direct investments of the main Japanese trade affiliate companies amongst the 100 biggest export and import companies established in Portugal in 1998 and 1999

Strategies for teachers’ professional development : Fostering ICT proficient use

Tese de doutoramento, Educação (Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação na Educação), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2018Almost in third decade of the 21st century, with so many affordable or free technologies available, most teachers still don’t use digital technologies in their scholar activities. That was the focus of this entire research. The problem and the questions we aimed to answer with the present research are related to the variables that revealed the strongest predictive weight in the most credible scientific models that try to understand the technology acceptance by teachers. To answer those questions, we carried on two separate studies: i) A first study, with a methodology similar to a “survey research” where we propose a new development in the Technology Acceptance Models; ii) A second study, with a methodology close to “design-based research”, which proposes a model for the development of teachers' digital skills (in a quest for "Digital Proficiency”). The present research may be included in the scientific domain of technology acceptance and adoption theories and methodologies and the most credible scientific models look to identify the factors that foster the use of ICT in education (TRA, TPB, TAM, UTAUT). However, the variable “ICT skills” is not present in any of these models… Is that a neglectable factor? We believe that “ICT skills” is far from neglectable and we tried to develop a model that integrates this dimension, along with some other factors already present in the models from the available literature. In the first study (the we have called “A new development in the Technology Acceptance Models”) we searched the literature for the instruments already validated for the Portuguese reality, and we developed a new instrument, built over the reunion of 4 questionnaires, that was applied to teachers from all Professional Schools in Portugal (N=7293) and we received 444 complete answers, from 67 different professional schools. We have named the model that emerged from this process, developed using the Structural Equation Modelling technique, “ISTTU model” (ICT Skills Towards Technology Use). We discovered that “ICT Skills” have a strong influence over “ICT Intention to Use” (the strongest predictor of “ICT use”). The structural model revealed that ICT knowledge” was the factor that revealed the strongest effect (β=.63; p<.001) over the “Intention to use ICT”. The trajectory “Learning through ICT” → “Intention to use ICT” was not significant (β=.10; p=.037). Nevertheless, this model explained 45% of the variance, which means that other variables explain the remaining 55% and further field experience research is necessary to identify the other variables that may increase the variance explained by the ISTTU model: Effort Expectancy, Computer Anxiety, Perceived Usefulness, and Perceived Ease-of-Use. We believe, however, that first we need to provide teachers with adequate training, if we want them to be more willing to use the digital technologies in pedagogical contexts. The question is: how may we help them to develop these skills? Given the results and the conclusions of the first study, some questions have emerged: 1) Are online models suited to acquire digital skills? 2) Is online education (where digital skills are required) adequate to acquire “digital skills”? 3) Are online courses adequate to empower teachers to overcome their barriers to the use of digital technologies? 4) Will the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) increase the will to use digital technologies in the classroom? The second study (“A quest for "Digital Proficiency”) was developed to look for the answers to the questions that emerged from the first study, trying to mitigate (or eliminate) the barriers to the usage of digital technologies and empower the “average teacher” to proficiently use the common productivity applications and produce and share their own digital educational resources. For the second study, we have chosen a more pragmatic approach and we developed: a) online courses that aimed to provide teachers with the skills to proficiently use some of the productivity Office programs (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and resource production software (image editing, audio recording and editing, video recording); b) face-to-face workshops that targeted the same goals, but in a warmer and more informal environment, where fellow teachers and trainers (himself a teacher) were present and all doubts and questions could be immediately answered. From the results of both studies, we discovered that teachers are able and willing to shift from “technophobic” to “consumers” and from “consumers” to “producers”, as long as we provide them with the adequate scaffolded training. We also concluded that: i) “ICT skills” is a non-neglectable predictor of “Intention to use ICT”; ii) The online models are not suited when ICT skills are the subject to learn; iii) A series of workshops is much more profitable in the first stage to overcome barriers and anxiety. After these workshops, online courses may be suited to learn specific technologies; iv) There are no significant gender differences regarding the use of digital technologies; v) Considering the “Teaching Area”, teachers from the technical areas are more predisposed to use digital technologies, but the good response from those of “social and cultural” areas when compared with the “scientific” area teachers was surprisingly positive; vi) The use of Virtual Learning Environments do increase the use of Digital Technologies, indeed. After this research we have proved to be possible to change the landscape of “ICT use” in a microscale. The question now is: “will it be possible for this model to disseminate, and how much time will it take to reach a widespread use of Digital Technologies in todays’ schools”

The influence of augmented reality in consumer purchase intentions and sustainable development

The current production and consumption model has been one of the main problems in the process of environmental degradation, in which the population, encouraged by commercial advertising, acquires unnecessary products, often returning them to the seller, which intensifies the destruction of nature and its resources. The technological evolution of recent years has created a disruptive effect on business models and consumer behavior. Transcending borders and distances, e-commerce has digitized the world into a single platform, contributing to the exponential growth of online commerce. Today's companies have developed omnichannel strategies in order to impact consumers during the entire purchase decision process. To reduce sensory limitations (visual and touch) in the online buying process, several technologies have been created and implemented, such as Augmented Reality. Thus, the objective of this dissertation was to analyze the effect of the application of Augmented Reality technology on purchase intentions and on intentions to return products, compared to the traditional online sampling model based on 2D product image display, currently implemented in most online stores. In this regard, the effects of perceptions (hedonic value, utilitarian value and perceived risk) and sensations (sense of control, attractiveness and confidence) during a shopping experience were studied. It has been proven that, in fact, Augmented Reality technology has a stronger effect on increasing purchase intentions than its traditional 2D alternative, but not on decreasing product return intentions.O atual modelo de produção e consumo tem sido um dos principais problemas no processo de degradação ambiental, em que a população incentivada por propaganda comercial, adquire produtos desnecessários, devolve-os muitas vezes ao vendedor, intensificando a destruição da natureza e dos seus recursos. A evolução tecnológica dos últimos anos tem criado um efeito disruptivo nos modelos de negócio e no comportamento dos consumidores. Transcendendo fronteiras e distâncias, o ecommerce digitalizou o mundo numa única plataforma, contribuindo para o crescimento exponencial do comércio online. As empresas atuais têm desenvolvido estratégias de omnichannel com o intuito de impactar os consumidores durante todo o processo de decisão de compra. Para diminuir as limitações sensoriais (visuais e tato) durante o processo de compra online, diversas tecnologias têm sido criadas e implementadas, como é o caso da Realidade Aumentada. Assim, o objetivo desta dissertação foi o de analisar o efeito da aplicação de tecnologia de Realidade Aumentada nas intenções de compra e nas intenções de devolução de produtos, comparativamente com o modelo tradicional de compras online baseado na exibição de imagens de produtos em 2D, atualmente implementado na maioria das lojas online. Para tal, foram estudados os efeitos das perceções (valor hedónico, valor utilitário e perceção do risco) e das sensações (sensação de controlo, atratividade e confiança) durante uma experiência de compra, tendo-se comprovado que, efetivamente, a tecnologia de Realidade Aumentada tem um efeito mais acentuado no aumento das intenções de compra do que a alternativa 2D, mas não na diminuição das intenções de devolução de produtos

A importância do intercâmbio de informação criminal ambiental na União Europeia

No garante da segurança, o combate à criminalidade ambiental a nível transnacional assume-se como uma das prioridades da ação da União Europeia, potenciando os esforços globais por via do reforço da cooperação policial internacional, onde o intercâmbio de informações assume papel basilar. Assim, alicerçou-se o objetivo da investigação em propor melhorias ao Modelo Nacional de Intercâmbio de Informação Criminal Ambiental, tendo em vista potenciar a eficácia da referida cooperação. Nesse desígnio, o processo metodológico sustentou-se no raciocínio dedutivo, assente numa estratégia de investigação qualitativa e num desenho de pesquisa estudo de caso, com recurso a técnicas de análise documental a literatura de referência e ao extenso acervo legal nacional e europeu, bem como em entrevistas semiestruturadas a representantes das entidades com responsabilidade na temática ambiental. Desse modo, possibilitou inferir a concordância do referido Modelo Nacional, com as premissas instituídas pelo modelo europeu, requerendo melhorias a nível da estrutura das entidades que o compõe e nos domínios da estratégia nacional, da estatística e do intercâmbio de informações, especificamente a nível dos órgãos, canais de contacto e sistemas de informação. Concluindo-se, que a implementação do modelo organizativo recomendado pelo Programa de Criminalidade Ambiental da Interpol, permite atender às melhorias identificadas no estudo. Abstract: One of the priority efforts for the European Union, in order to ensure security and the right response against environmental crime at a transnational level, suffices by enhancing global efforts through the strengthening of international police cooperation, where the exchange of information plays a vital role. Thus, the objective of this research was to submit improvements to the National Information Exchange of Environmental Criminal Model, in order to enhance the effectiveness of such cooperation. In this design, the methodological process was based on deductive reasoning, grounded on a qualitative research strategy and a case study research design, using techniques of documental analysis of referential literature and a vast array of national and European law, as well as semi-structured interviews with several entities with responsibility in environmental issues. In this way, it was possible to establish the agreement of the mentioned National Model, with assumptions established by the European model, implying improvements at its organizational level in the national strategy, statistics and information exchange domains, specifically with the constituent structures, channels of contact and information systems. In conclusion, the establishment of the organisational model as recommended by the Interpol’s Environmental Crime Programme enables for the improvements outlined in the research study.N/