Establishing a Framework for the development of Multimodal Virtual Reality Interfaces with Applicability in Education and Clinical Practice

The development of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) content with multiple sources of both input and output has led to countless contributions in a great many number of fields, among which medicine and education. Nevertheless, the actual process of integrating the existing VR/AR media and subsequently setting it to purpose is yet a highly scattered and esoteric undertaking. Moreover, seldom do the architectures that derive from such ventures comprise haptic feedback in their implementation, which in turn deprives users from relying on one of the paramount aspects of human interaction, their sense of touch. Determined to circumvent these issues, the present dissertation proposes a centralized albeit modularized framework that thus enables the conception of multimodal VR/AR applications in a novel and straightforward manner. In order to accomplish this, the aforesaid framework makes use of a stereoscopic VR Head Mounted Display (HMD) from Oculus Rift©, a hand tracking controller from Leap Motion©, a custom-made VR mount that allows for the assemblage of the two preceding peripherals and a wearable device of our own design. The latter is a glove that encompasses two core modules in its innings, one that is able to convey haptic feedback to its wearer and another that deals with the non-intrusive acquisition, processing and registering of his/her Electrocardiogram (ECG), Electromyogram (EMG) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA). The software elements of the aforementioned features were all interfaced through Unity3D©, a powerful game engine whose popularity in academic and scientific endeavors is evermore increasing. Upon completion of our system, it was time to substantiate our initial claim with thoroughly developed experiences that would attest to its worth. With this premise in mind, we devised a comprehensive repository of interfaces, amid which three merit special consideration: Brain Connectivity Leap (BCL), Ode to Passive Haptic Learning (PHL) and a Surgical Simulator

Book of abstracts II International Congress - CIEQV 23rd and 24th February 2023

The II International Congress - CIEQV is the consequence of the development of the center’s strategic plan, which aims to increase scientific production in the field of quality of life. The communication of the science carried out configures a relevant social approach for public scientific research institutions. This congress aims above all to make available the knowledge acquired on the subject of quality of life, aiming to transfer to society and citizens the information applied to their way of life. We consider the highlights of the congress to be the discussion at roundtables on two fracturing themes, inclusion and urbanism associated with the quality of life of citizens. The conferences are multidisciplinary, addressing topics such as children’s education and sports participation, sustainable agriculture and self-care, all of them related to citizens’ quality of life. The proposed papers reflect the diverse research paradigms of this multidisciplinary and thematic center: studies on the educational contexts of youth and children; on the inclusion of people with disabilities; research focused on food products and sustainable behaviors; approaches to sports training, athlete performances, physical activity practice; exploration of research on the motor behavior of children and youth; study of sustainability in organizations; research focused on quality of life in the different stages of human life; etc. This diverse approach demonstrates the complexity of the social phenomenon under study. Researchers search the connection between some variables and their interrelationship. In this way, the research produced gets closer to the ecological and social reality, transferring itself to human practices towards a better and healthy quality of life. This II International Congress - CIEQV is another initiative for the challenges of research in Quality of Life. I take this opportunity to thank the institutions that support us, the organizers of the event and the researchers who share their knowledge, from the perspective of open science and available to society.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trends of reform in Portuguese local government: alternative mechanisms in service delivery

The influence on local government organization and management of new public management practices promoted by national administrative reforms remains an issue of contention. On one hand, some authors argue that these reforms have produced similar results at both the central and local levels of government (John 2001; Sanderson 2001; Van Gramberg & Teicher 2000). Others consider that the political nature of elected mayors and their legitimacy derived from close proximity with voters has limited its impact at the local level (McLaughlin 2002). However, it is unquestionable that local governance has changed over the years, distancing itself from traditional management involving clearly defined hierarchical relations, long-lasting career systems, bureaucratic control mechanisms, and in-house production. The influence of Public Choice theory and the New Public Management reforms have transformed local governance, albeit the degree of change remains under dispute. These changes resulted in the adoption of alternative mechanisms to deliver public services based on the externalization of service delivery, either using market approaches or employing partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The influence of New Public Management reforms brought about new service delivery arrangements replacing traditional bureaucratic in-house supply. Examples of these arrangements include: 1) CCT (Compulsory Competitive Tendering) replacing service delivery through in-house formal hierarchy with contracting (Fenwick, Shaw, & Foreman 1994); 2) Best Value relying on the comparison between delivery by the local government bureaucracy and alternative solutions provided by the market (Sanderson, 2001; Martin & Hartley 2000); 3) Local Government Amendment stressing the separation of municipal functions and highlighting the need for a corporate approach to commercial type functions (Wallis & Dollery 2001); and 4) New Steering Model (NSM) promoting functional decentralization and service autonomy to accomplish efficiency gains and quality in service delivery (Reichard 2003). Currently, local governments are responsible for the provision of an ever growing number of public services, including education, social services, land use planning and management, water supply, wastewater management, solid waste collection and management, and the promotion of local economic development. The mayoral system at the local level associated with the traditional administrative culture has produced resistance to the introduction and implementation of New Public Management reforms. In-house bureaucratic solutions still represent a large proportion of service delivery choices among Portuguese local governments. Nevertheless, the adoption of new governance mechanisms based on market competition and contracting out began increasing by the end of the 1990s. In recent years, we also witnessed the rise of alternatives to both market and hierarchy, through solutions relying on network partnerships and municipal cooperation. The large number of functions assumed by local governments as a result of central government delegation generated a substantial increase in the number and diversity of alternative governance mechanisms. We analyse the choice between these governance mechanisms in light of current trends of administrative reform. Our central hypothesis follows Robert Stein’s 1993 assertion that service characteristics influence the choice among governance mechanisms (hierarchy, market or network). We match three types of municipal services with these governance mechanisms and develop our hypotheses accordingly. First, we expect regulatory and monitoring activities to be provided by hierarchy type mechanisms (Lowi 1964; Peterson 1981; Barney 1999). Second, for activities involving the delivery of private goods and services (rival consumption and exclusion), local government officials will be inclined to use market-type mechanisms (Brown & Potoski 2003a; Ostrom & Ostrom 1977). Finally, social services, generally involving redistributive and social policies are most likely provided by network type mechanisms (Lamothe, Lamothe, & Feiock 2007; Brandsen & Pestoff 2006; Osbourne & McLaughlin 2004; Lowi 1964). The empirical analysis employs data collected from a sample of 102 Portuguese local governments between February and October 2008

A prestação de serviços públicos nas autarquias locais

O presente artigo visa analisar as modificações ao nível das configurações organizacionais identificadas nos governos locais inerentes ao processo de modernização e reforma administrativa. Desta forma, o artigo pretende analisar três dimensões distintas. Primeiro, procura explorar o conceito de Nova Gestão Pública analisando a sua amplitude e as consequências na estrutura organizacional da Administração Pública. Depois, procura contextualizar o processo de reforma e mudança administrativa à realidade da Administração Local. Para tal, identifica e explora alguns casos de modernização administrativa experimentada em diferentes países da OCDE. Finalmente, converge para o caso português. Procura identificar as diferentes alternativas organizacionais para a prestação de bens e serviços públicos a nível local. Fruto da sua exploração mas detalhada e fazendo uso das três dimensões escolhidas (controlo directo/competição/cooperação) procede então à classificação das diferentes alternativas organizacionais, pelos três mecanismos de governação conhecidos: Hierarquia/Mercado/Networks

Otimização de redes IP com mecanismos de reencaminhamento rápido

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaThis dissertation studies strategies for assigning costs to the interfaces of routers inside an IP network to potentiate the use of Loop-Free Alternates (LFA). LFA is a fast reroute mechanism that has been recently deployed in commercial routers. This mechanism allows routers to forward traffic through alternative paths right after the detection of a network failure, avoiding a higher loss of packets during the network’s recovery process. The problem is that this mechanism does not usually provide coverage to all possible failures. Moreover, repair paths may lead to congestion and even forwarding loops. An application was developed that, given a network topology and its supporting traffic matrix, allows to find IGP costs that improve the network performance when employing this mechanism. The implemented strategies try to minimize situations where the use of repair paths leads to micro-loops or link overloads, thus preserving the quality of the service. The computational results show that it is possible to minimize the effects of a failure through an intelligent choice of costs. It is also possible to conclude that, for the majority of cases, increasing the LFA coverage of a network is not the best strategy. Depending on the available resources, it becomes often necessary to sacrifice this coverage to obtain better performance levels.Esta dissertação estuda estratégias para a atribuição de custos IGP às interfaces dos routers de uma rede IP de forma a potenciar o uso de Loop-Free Alternates (LFA), um mecanismo de reencaminhamento rápido que tem sido recentemente implementado em routers comerciais. Este mecanismo permite que os routers reencaminhem tráfego por rotas alternativas assim que uma falha de rede é detetada, evitando uma maior perda de pacotes durante o período de recuperação da rede. O problema é que este mecanismo geralmente não oferece cobertura para todas as falhas possíveis. Além disso, as rotas de restauro podem causar congestão na rede e até mesmo ciclos de encaminhamento. Foi então desenvolvida uma aplicação que, dada uma topologia de rede e respetiva matriz de tráfego, permite determinar custos que melhorem o desempenho da rede quando emprega este mecanismo. As estratégias implementadas procuram minimizar situações em que o uso das rotas de restauro provoca ciclos de encaminhamento ou sobrecarga das ligações, preservando desta forma a qualidade da maior parte do serviço. Os resultados obtidos mostram que é possível minimizar os efeitos de uma falha através de uma escolha inteligente dos custos. Também é possível concluir que, na grande maioria dos casos, aumentar de forma cega a cobertura da rede através de Loop-Free Alternates não é a melhor estratégia. Dependendo dos recursos disponíveis, torna-se muitas vezes necessário sacrificar essa cobertura para obter melhores níveis globais de desempenho

Portuguese local government: exploring alternatives of service delivery

Nowadays, Local Governments have a heavy burden of dealing with much of the services with added value to citizens. Their competences kept on growing at the expenses of central government responsibilities’ cope with all these challenges, local governments use several mechanisms to deliver public services to their citizens. In this paper we analyze New Public Management (NPM), and post-NPM as mains reform paradigms with impact in the governance alternatives

“Shared value” Responsabilidade social e gestão estratégica da empresa Delta Cafés

Mestrado em Controlo de Gestão e dos NegóciosA presente dissertação é realizada no âmbito do curso de Mestrado em Controlo de Gestão e dos Negócios do Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa – ISCAL. O presento estudo tem com objetivo principal verificar se a empresa Delta Cafés gera e partilha valor com a sua comunidade e perceber o processo para partilhar esse valor. Para tal, foi realizado um estudo em torno da Associação Coração Delta e dos projetos e programas criados pela empresa. Recorreu-se ao método do estudo de caso, tendo sido realizada uma entrevista aos responsáveis pelo Coração Delta, pela empresa e pelo domínio das certificações. No que respeita à Delta Cafés, ao nível da criação de valor partilhado, a empresa demonstra preocupação com a comunidade onde esta inserida, tendo vários projetos e parcerias com principal foco na ajuda à comunidade e aos cidadãos nela presente. Conclui-se que há criação de valor tanto para a empresa como para a comunidade.This dissertation is conducted within the Master of Management and Business Control course of the Lisbon Institute of Accounting and Administration - ISCAL. The present study has as main objective to verify if Delta Cafés company generates and shares value with its community and to understand the process to share that value. To this end, a study was conducted around the Delta Heart Association and the projects and programs created by the company. The case study method was used and an interview was conducted with those responsible for Delta Heart, the company and the domain of certifications. With regard to Delta Cafés, in terms of shared value creation, the company is concerned about the community in which it operates, having several projects and partnerships with the main focus on helping the community and its citizens. It is concluded that there is value creation for both the company and the community.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design Paramétrico e consequentes paradigmas emergentes

O design paramétrico é uma metodologia usada para criar mecanismos lógicos que possibilitam derivar variações geométricas e composicionais a partir da mesma ferramenta algorítmica. Nesta dissertação são exploradas as possibilidades trazidas por esta abordagem, nomeadamente ao nível das novas expressões estéticas e aplicacionais (workflow e interface), resultantes de uma intensa integração tecnológica e convergência com outras áreas do conhecimento, destacando-se a biomimética. Em simultâneo, são analisadas as implicações desta metodologia em projecto e no sistema produtivo na área do Design. Como tal, analisaram-se também as distintas perspectivas dos vários autores (nas áreas da teoria e prática) tendo sido classificadas diferentes abordagens de trabalho projectual assim com categorizadas três principais posições sobre esta o carácter do design paramétrico.Parametric design is a methodology used to create logic mechanisms that enables to derive geometrical and compositional variations through the same algorithmic tool. In this dissertation are explored the possibilities brought by this approach, namely in what concerns to new aesthetics and applications (workflow and interface) resulting from an intense technological integration and convergence with different fields of knowledge, particularly Biomimetics. Moreover, the implications of this methodology for the project practice and productive system in the Design domain are analyzed. As such the different views of various authors (from the theoretical and practical realms) were also analyzed, having been classified different approaches to the projectual practice and categorized three main positions in what concerns to the character of parametric design

O papel dos media na representação e inclusão das minorias: A cobertura jornalística da comunidade LGBTI+ na RTP

O presente relatório de estágio tem como objetivo perceber o papel dos media na representação e inclusão das minorias, particularmente a cobertura jornalística da comunidade LGBTI+ (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, transgénero, intersexo e outras orientações sexuais, identidades e expressões de género) na Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). Em 2018, a estação de serviço público português recebeu o prémio Arco-Íris da ILGA Portugal pela a defesa dos direitos LGBTI+ na informação e entretenimento. No entanto, de que forma é que a informação da RTP, enquanto serviço público de rádio e televisão, se distingue na representação deste grupo minoritário? De modo a investigar a cobertura de acontecimentos ligado a esta comunidade, utilizou-se uma metodologia baseada na análise de forma e conteúdo dos artigos publicados no site RTP Notícias, complementada com entrevistas à direção das associações ILGA Portugal e Opus Gay, bem como a jornalistas da RTP. No total, ao longo de 2018, foram analisados 105 conteúdos jornalísticos. Concluiu-se que, embora exista espaço na informação da RTP para esta comunidade, a cobertura ainda pode ser melhorada ao nível da utilização de ferramentas multimédia, terminologia adequada e criação de mais reportagens. No geral, salvo raros casos, a informação da RTP é rigorosa. No entanto, é necessário apostar em mais jornalistas com formação nesta temática, de modo a criar mais artigos exclusivos e menos de agência.This internship report aims to understand media’s role in the representation and inclusion of minorities, particularly the coverage of the LGBTI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other sexual orientations, identities and gender expressions) community in RTP. In 2018, ILGA Portugal awarded Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) for the defense of LGBTI+’s rights in information and entertainment. However, how does RTP’s information, as a public service network, represent this minority group? To investigate the coverage of this community during 2018, we used a methodology based on form and content analysis of articles published on the RTP Notícias, complemented with interviews (ILGA Portugal, Opus Gay and RTP’s journalists). In total, we analyzed 105 journalistic contents. We concluded that the coverage of this community is increasing in RTP’s information. However, the coverage can still be improved with the use of multimedia tools, adequate terminology, and the creation of more reportages. In general, with rare exceptions, the news is accurate. Still, there is a need for more specialized journalists to create more exclusive conten