User interfaces for anyone anywhere

In a global context of multimodal man-machine interaction, we approach a wide spectrum of fields, such as software engineering, intelligent communication and speech dialogues. This paper presents technological aspects of the shifting from the traditional desktop interfaces to more expressive, natural, flexible and portable ones, where more persons, in a greater number of situations, will be able to interact with computers. Speech appears to be one of the best forms of interaction, especially in order to support non-skilled users. Modalities such as speech, among others, tend to be very relevant to accessing information in our future society, in which mobile devices will play a preponderant role. Therefore, we are placing an emphasis on verbal communication in open environments (Java/XML) using software agent technology.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – PRAXIS XXI /BD/20095/99 ; Germany. Ministry of Science and Education – EMBASSI – 01IL90

The use of physical activity trackers devices and physical activity levels in adolescents and adults

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enrolment time as a requirement for face recognition biometric systems

The performance of a biometric system depends on the accuracy, the processing speed, the template size, and the time necessary for enrolment. This last factor is not much addressed in literature. In this work we collected information about the users' availability for enrolment in respect to face recognition biometrics. Were involved in testing 26 randomly chosen people. The results are presented globally, by sex, by age group and by previous experience in the use of the technology. We found that there is a generalized positive predisposition for enrolment that is expressed in some by the predisposition to try for many times and in others to try over a long time, and that it may be the youngest and the oldest the least available.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vision-based interaction within a multimodal framework

Our contribution is to the field of video-based interaction techniques and is integrated in the home environment of the EMBASSI project. This project addresses innovative methods of man-machine interaction achieved through the development of intelligent assistance and anthropomorphic user interfaces. Within this project, multimodal techniques represent a basic requirement, especially considering those related to the integration of modalities. We are using a stereoscopic approach to allow the natural selection of devices via pointing ges-tures. The pointing hand is segmented from the video images and the 3D position and orientation of the forefinger is calculated. This modality has a subsequent integration with that of speech, in the context of a multimodal interaction infrastructure. In a first phase, we use semantic fusion with amodal input, considering the modalities in a so-called late fusion state

Collaborative multimodal authoring of virtual worlds

This work aims the creation of virtual worlds by working teams with resource to advanced interaction techniques, such as speech commands and gestures, as well as the resource to portable devices. The physical characteristics of virtual reality environments lead us to a different kind of user interfaces. However, we found some usefulness on the classic WIMP paradigm, which we also apply by using a PDA, in order to complement the interaction possibilities. In terms of application description we use the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. One of the main goals is the separation/combination of VRML files in order to allow the work to be cared out individually by the members of the team, and later combine the results to produce the global virtual world.O objectivo deste trabalho é a criação de mundos virtuais por equipas de trabalho com recurso a técnicas avançadas de interacção, tais como comandos de fala e gestos, e a dispositivos móveis. As características físicas dos ambientes de realidade virtual conduzem-nos a diferentes tipos de interfaces de utilizador. Contudo, encontramos certa utilidade no clássico paradigma WIMP, que é utilizado recorrendo a um PDA, para complementar as possibilidades de interacção. Em termos de descrição da aplicação utilizamos a linguagem de modelação para realidade virtual – VRML. Um dos principais objectivos consiste na separação/combinação de arquivos VRML para permitir o trabalho individual a cada um dos elementos da equipa, e posteriormente a combinação de resultados para produzir o mundo virtual global.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Collaborative multimodal authoring of virtual worlds

This work aims the creation of virtual worlds by working teams with resource to advanced interaction techniques, such as speech commands and gestures, as well as the resource to portable devices. The physical characteristics of virtual reality environments lead us to a different kind of user interfaces. However, we found some usefulness on the classic WIMP paradigm, which we also apply by using a PDA, in order to complement the interaction possibilities. In terms of application description we use the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. One of the main goals is the separation/combination of VRML files in order to allow the work to be cared out individually by the members of the team, and later combine the results to produce the global virtual world

Optimizing load balancing routing mechanisms with evolutionary computation

Link State routing protocols, such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), are widely applied to intra-domain routing in todays IP networks. They provide a good scalability without lost of simplicity. A router running OSPF distributes traf- fic uniformly over Equal-cost Multi-path (ECMP), enabling a better distribution of packets among the existent links. More recently, other load balancing strategies, that consider non even splitting of traffic, have been put forward. Such is the case of the Distributed Exponentially-weighted Flow SpliTting (DEFT), that enables traf- fic to be directed through non equal-cost multi-paths, while preserving the OSPF simplicity. As the optimal link weight computation is known to be NP-hard, intel- ligence heuristics are particularly suited to address this optimization problem. In this context, this work compares the solutions provided by Evolutionary Al- gorithms (EA) for the weight setting problem, considering both ECMP and DEFT load balancing alternatives. In addition to a single objective network congestion optimization problem, both load balancing schemes are also applied to a multi- objective optimization approach able to attain routing configurations resilient to traffic demand variations.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e TecnologiaThis work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the ProjectScope: UID/CEC/00319/2013

Multimedia Technology and 3D Environments used in the Preservation and Dissemination of Portuguese Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is an extremely valuable set of materiality, traditions and knowledge from the Past that should be used to better understand the Past itself. However, even nowadays there are still some difficulties to manage, preserve and disseminate cultural heritage sites. The usage of multimedia technology and 3D environments in cultural heritage has reduced these difficulties; nonetheless, there are still some remaining problems. In the last years, some multimedia technology and 3D environments have been applied to the cultural heritage in Portugal. A few of them are used for scientific research purposes and others are used for dissemination purposes. In this article, the authors will refer to some representative Portuguese case studies using Virtual Environments to maintain, preserve and promote Cultural Heritage. A critical reading of these projects will be made in order to stress out their success and to point out their weaknesses and limitations

Hybrid IP/SDN routing for inter-data center communications

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and dedicated inter-Data Center Wide Area Networks have been exploring Software-Defined Networking (SDN) features to achieve a high utilization of the available resources. This work proposes a scalable hybrid IP/SDN routing model, and optimization procedures fostered by Evolutionary Computation algorithms, to achieve near optimal network resources utilization under changing traffic requirements.This work has been supported by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio