Using gamification to motivate occupants to energy efficiency in a social setting of a building automation system

UID/CEC/04516/2019The widespread use of IoTs, as cheap and immersive technology, is enabling a wide range of daily life systems where Humans play a central role. It is commonly accepted that Humans sometimes present non-reliable behaviour. On the other hand, Gamification is becoming a common technique in system development to integrate business logic and induce Humans to accomplish certain goals and enforce systems reliability. Due to human nature, the evolution of game logic becomes an essential aspect of such systems to keep users engaged and participative. In this paper, we illustrate and discuss evolution in the particular scenario of a running Office Automation System in our open space. Here, the Human plays different roles such as an actuator, source of system input, a controller (decision maker), or simply environment (Human-in-the-loop). The mentioned system is the result of partially retrofitting a room of a forty years old building. It runs with a dynamic context scenario (that motivates different setups) and is formed by a heterogeneous set of IoTs. Those types of equipment are integrated to mainly accomplish two, sometimes conflicting, main goals: energy efficiency and Human comfort. As we will describe next, given the complexity of our system, various system's requirements need to be fulfilled at the same time. Those will dynamically change during runtime to contribute to both efficiency and participants' engagement. Not only the game requirements of the system evolve, but also the participants' behaviour change. We have consulted the open space's occupants on their daily routines and their preferences towards Gamification and gamified systems, particularly considering their social settings. They were also consulted on their views towards achieving energy efficiency in the open space. The results of this assessment are presented in this paper. The major suggestions were integrated into the current design of the system. We considered those that could contribute to the system's efficiency and reliability according to the system's goals. Besides, we also considered those that led to the use of several game techniques for motivating and improving the Humans' participation.authorsversionpublishe

Dentists and undergraduate dental students require more information relating to child abuse

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution,and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the preparation for, and the appropriate approach of dentists to the diagnosis of patient mistreatment. METHOD: This investigation was conducted among sixty randomly selected dentistry students: twenty 1st year students, ten 5th year students at our institution, ten 5th year students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Lisbon University, sixteen dentists at the University Clinic of our institution, and four dentists with private offices. Students and dentists took part voluntarily. The exclusion criteria were (a) prior attendance of another degree, (b) cooperation with social organizations; and, for professionals, less than five years of experience. Data analysis was performed through descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-squared test) for a confidence level of 95%. RESULTS: Among dentists, 38% do not know which area of the organism is the most affected, 43% know it is proper to officially report the fact; out of these, 48% know that the information may be provided anonymously. There are 47% who state that they received no undergraduate training in this area. However, 60% of the students in the last year declare they did receive training. CONCLUSIONS: Dentists are not sufficiently familiar with the subject of child abuse. A regular approach to this matter in undergraduate education is important. It will be very useful to create a working tool unifying the criteria for screening, diagnosing, and registering such events

Leadership paradoxes in Angolan organizations: Emic paradoxes, etic paradoxes, and paradox work

The study departs from two assumptions. First, it considers that organizations and their leadership are inherently paradoxical and that, in that sense, dealing with paradox is a necessary component of the leadership process. Second, it explores whether the paradoxes of leadership may manifest differently in different contexts. We explore the emergence of paradox in the leadership of Angolan organizations. Angola is an economy transitioning from a centrally-planned to a market mode, and this makes it a rich site for understanding the specificities of paradoxical processes in an under-researched, “rest of the world”, context. The findings of our inductive study led to the emergence of four interrelated paradoxes and highlight the importance of paradoxical work as a management requirement

O Essencial da Transferência: Uma nova (re)visão dos preditores da Transferência da Formação

Tese de Doutoramento em Políticas de Desenvolvimento de Recursos HumanosAtualmente, a transferência da formação encontra-se numa encruzilhada. As reconhecidas vantagens da formação surgem a par da dificuldade em quantificar o grau de transferência para o contexto de trabalho. A literatura tem convidado a um novo debate sobre o que já se sabe sobre o sistema de transferência da formação e os fatores que a influenciam. Pretende revisitar-se um conjunto de antecedentes da transferência, considerando alguns cuja relação já está validada na literatura, como os fatores do “Learning Transfer System Inventory” (LTSI) ou as estratégias de transferência, outros cuja investigação em torno desta relação é ainda incipiente, como os comprometimentos profissional e organizacional, e outros ainda que não foram estudados em associação com a transferência, como os estilos de tomada de decisão. A presente investigação propõe considerar estes constructos como antecedentes da transferência, perspetivando a hipótese dos comprometimentos, os estilos de tomada de decisão e as estratégias de transferência surgirem como mediadores na relação entre os preditores do LTSI e a transferência da formação. Esta investigação é composta por quatro estudos assentes numa abordagem hipotético-dedutiva e construtivista, de natureza quantitativa, com recurso à metodologia de inquérito por questionário. Os modelos concetuais foram testados através da modelação por equações estruturais. Consoante os estudos, foram também analisados os efeitos de moderação e mediação presentes, bem como a identificação de perfis associados à transferência da formação. Os resultados finais evidenciaram a emergência da motivação para transferir, coaching de desempenho e estratégias de transferência cognitivo-afetivas como antecedentes, estas últimas identificadas como mediador da relação entre aqueles e a transferência da formação. A Gestão e a teoria beneficiam da identificação dos antecedentes mais impactantes no âmbito do sistema de transferência, essencial para políticas formativas mais eficazes e para um adequado redirecionamento do investimento em formação. Além desta conclusão geral, são apontadas outras conclusões e sugestões para futuras investigações.Nowadays, training transfer is at a conceptual and practical crossroad. The recognized advantages of training appear alongside the difficulty in quantifying the degree of training transfer that happens in the workplace. Literature has opened a new debate about what is already known about this transfer system and the factors that influence it. We intend to revisit a set of training transfer antecedents, considering some whose relationship is already widely validated in the literature, such as the factors in the “Learning Transfer System Inventory” (LTSI) or the transfer strategies. Also, we intend to include others whose relationship with transfer is still incipient, as the professional and organizational commitments, and others that have not been studied in association with transfer, as decisionmaking styles. This investigation presents these constructs as antecedents of training transfer, suggesting that both commitments, decision-making styles, and transfer strategies act as mediating variables in the relationship between the predictors of LTSI and training transfer. This investigation consists of four studies based on a hypothetical-deductive and constructivist approach, of a quantitative nature, using the questionnaire methodology. Conceptual models are tested through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Depending on the studies, the moderation and mediation effects are also analyzed, as well as the identification of profiles associated with training transfer. The results highlighted the emergence of motivation to transfer, performance coaching and cognitive-affective transfer strategies as the sole antecedents of training transfer, with these strategies showing a mediating role between those constructs and training transfer. Human Resources Management and literature benefit from the identification of the most impactful antecedents within the transfer system, essential for the design of more effective policies and for an adequate redirection of investment in training. In addition to this general conclusion, several other conclusions and suggestions for future investigations are pointed out in each study.N/

A Critical Perspective on 3D Liver Models for Drug Metabolism and Toxicology Studies

The poor predictability of human liver toxicity is still causing high attrition rates of drug candidates in the pharmaceutical industry at the non-clinical, clinical, and post-marketing authorization stages. This is in part caused by animal models that fail to predict various human adverse drug reactions (ADRs), resulting in undetected hepatotoxicity at the non-clinical phase of drug development. In an effort to increase the prediction of human hepatotoxicity, different approaches to enhance the physiological relevance of hepatic in vitro systems are being pursued. Three-dimensional (3D) or microfluidic technologies allow to better recapitulate hepatocyte organization and cell-matrix contacts, to include additional cell types, to incorporate fluid flow and to create gradients of oxygen and nutrients, which have led to improved differentiated cell phenotype and functionality. This comprehensive review addresses the drug-induced hepatotoxicity mechanisms and the currently available 3D liver in vitro models, their characteristics, as well as their advantages and limitations for human hepatotoxicity assessment. In addition, since toxic responses are greatly dependent on the culture model, a comparative analysis of the toxicity studies performed using two-dimensional (2D) and 3D in vitro strategies with recognized hepatotoxic compounds, such as paracetamol, diclofenac, and troglitazone is performed, further highlighting the need for harmonization of the respective characterization methods. Finally, taking a step forward, we propose a roadmap for the assessment of drugs hepatotoxicity based on fully characterized fit-for-purpose in vitro models, taking advantage of the best of each model, which will ultimately contribute to more informed decision-making in the drug development and risk assessment fields.This research has been supported by FCT (Portugal) through the research grants and scholarship PTDC/MED-TOX/29183/2017, UIDB/04138/2020, UIDP/04138/2020, and SFRH/BD/144130/2019 to JR and by the H2020, European Commission, though the MSCA-IF-EF-ST – Standard EF to MC (GA-845147-LIV-AD-ON-A-CHIP). Conflict of Interestinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ambidextrous leadership, paradox and contingency: evidence from Angola

The study departs from two assumptions. First, it considers that organizations, their leaders and the HRM function are inherently paradoxical and that, in that sense, dealing with paradox is a necessary component of the leadership process which requires ambidexterity capabilities. Second, it explores whether the paradoxes of leadership may manifest differently in different contexts. We explore the emergence of paradox in the leadership of Angolan organizations. Angola is an economy transitioning from a centrally planned to a market mode, and this makes it a rich site for understanding the specificities of ambidextrous paradoxical processes in an under-researched, ‘rest of the world’, context. The findings of our inductive study led to the emergence of four interrelated paradoxes and highlight the importance of ambidextrous paradoxical work as a HRM contingency.N/

Cousas do Preste : da verdadeira informação à história de Etiópia : visões da Etiópia em Francisco Álvares e Pêro Pais

Dissertação de Mestrado em Estudos Portugueses Interdisciplinares apresentada à Universidade Abert

An Aspect-Oriented Approach for Spatial Concerns in Web Applications

The growing availability of on-line geographical information, since the advent of open map servers in the 2000s, originated a new generation of Web applications, those which combine “conventional” Web functionality with typical features of traditional Geographic Application System (GIS). The rapid growth in number and complexity of Web applications with geo-referenced data together with the need to support fast requirements change, demands for increased modularity. The volatility of some of these changing requirements, both in the scope of their geographic nature or in the period of time in which they are valid, stresses the importance of the applications’ modularity. A solution is to take into consideration the crosscutting nature of these requirements and decouple their realization from “conventional” requirements in separate software modules. This paper proposes an end-to-end Aspect-Oriented approach to deal with spatial requirements from the early stages of applications development throughout to implementation. A significant contribution of this approach is the characterization of the most common spatial requirements in Web-GIS applications. The result is the improvement of the overall application’s modularity, thus facilitating its evolution.Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad