Learning Word Embeddings from the Portuguese Twitter Stream: A Study of some Practical Aspects

This paper describes a preliminary study for producing and distributing a large-scale database of embeddings from the Portuguese Twitter stream. We start by experimenting with a relatively small sample and focusing on three challenges: volume of training data, vocabulary size and intrinsic evaluation metrics. Using a single GPU, we were able to scale up vocabulary size from 2048 words embedded and 500K training examples to 32768 words over 10M training examples while keeping a stable validation loss and approximately linear trend on training time per epoch. We also observed that using less than 50\% of the available training examples for each vocabulary size might result in overfitting. Results on intrinsic evaluation show promising performance for a vocabulary size of 32768 words. Nevertheless, intrinsic evaluation metrics suffer from over-sensitivity to their corresponding cosine similarity thresholds, indicating that a wider range of metrics need to be developed to track progress

As redes sociais como uma ferramenta visual de marketing: o caso do grupo Torel Boutiques

Dissertação de mestradoNa última década as redes sociais tornaram-se fundamentais na comunicação entre organizações e consumidores, tornando-se assim imperativa a presença digital dos hotéis. Atualmente são várias as redes sociais existentes e por isso, é importante os hotéis identificarem as principais redes sociais para o seu público-alvo e como podem usar as suas funcionalidades para promover o serviço hoteleiro e estabelecerem relações com os seus consumidores, inclusive através da fotografia. Assim, o objetivo desta dissertação é perceber como o conteúdo visual de uma fotografia poderá influenciar os consumidores de uma unidade hoteleira. De forma a alcançar este objetivo, será desenvolvida uma metodologia qualitativa através de um estudo de caso ao grupo Torel Boutiques. Como técnica de recolha de dados, utilizou-se a observação e análise da estratégia de publicação de fotografias do grupo Torel Boutiques nas suas redes sociais, e por outro lado uma entrevista semiestruturada à especialista de marketing digital do grupo Torel Boutiques. Como resultado espera-se, por um lado, avaliar o real impacto das estratégias de marketing visual utilizadas pelo grupo Torel Boutiques, e por outro lado, identificar boas práticas do marketing visual na hotelaria.In the last decade, social networks have become fundamental in the communication between organizations and consumers, thus making the digital presence of hotels essential. There are currently several existing social networks and therefore it is important to identify them as the main social networks for their target audience and how they can use their features to promote the hotel service and establish relationships with their consumers, including through photography. Thus, the main goal of this dissertation is to understand how the visual content of a photograph can influence the consumers of a hotel unit. To achieve this goal, a qualitative methodology will be developed through a case study of the Torel Boutiques group. As a data collection technique, it was used the observation and analysis of the Torel Boutiques group's strategy of publishing photographs on their social networks, and on the other hand, a semi-structured interview with the digital marketing specialist of the Torel Boutiques group. As a result, it is expected, on one hand, to evaluate the real impact of the visual marketing strategies used by the Torel Boutiques group, and on the other hand, to identify good practices of visual marketing in the hotel industry

Development of novel fuzzy clustering techniques in the context of e-learning

This thesis investigates the performance of fuzzy clustering for dynamically discovering content relationships in e-Learning material based on document metadata descriptions. This form of knowledge representation is exploited to enable flexible content navigation in eLearning environments. However, the methods and tools developed in this thesis have wider applicability. The purpose of clustering techniques is to determine underlying structures and relations in data sets usually based on distance or proximity measures. A number of clustering methods to suit particular applications have been developed throughout the years. This thesis specifically considers the well-known Fuzzy c-Means (FCM) clustering technique as the basis for document clustering. Initially, novel expressions are developed to extend the FCM algorithm, which is based on the Euclidean metric, to an algorithm based on other proximity measures more appropriate for quantifying document relationships. These include the cosine, Jaccard and overlap similarity coefficients. This novel algorithm works with normalised k-dimensional data vectors that lie in hyper-sphere of unit radius and hence has been named Hyper-Spherical Fuzzy c-Means (H-FCN). Subsequently, the performance of the H-FCM algorithm is compared to that of the FCM as well as conventional hard (ie non-fuzzy) clustering algorithms with respect to four test document collections. Both the impact of different proximity measures as well as the impact of pre-processing the document vector representations for dimensionality reduction are thoroughly investigated. Results demonstrate that the H-FCM clustering method outperforms both the conventional FCM method as well as hard clustering techniques. This thesis also considers the integration of fuzzy clustering techniques in an end-to- end e-Leaming system. In particular, a tool to convert the H-FCM document clustering outcome into a knowledge representation, based on the Topic Maps standard, suitable for Web-based environments is developed. Moreover, a tool to enable flexible navigation of e-Learning material based on the fuzzy knowledge space is also developed. This tool is deployed in a real e-Learning environment where user trials are carried out. Finally, this thesis considers the important problem of defining a suitable number of clusters for appropriately capturing the concepts of the knowledge space. In particular, an hierarchical H-FCM algorithm is developed where the sought granularity level defines the number of clusters. In this algorithm, a novel heuristic based on asymmetric similarity measures is exploited to link document clusters hierarchically and to form a topic hierarchy

Cross-Platform Social Web Application for Older Adults with HTML 5

Online social networks can potentially play an important role in connecting older adults with family and friends who often live far. However, adoption of social Web services among the elderly is still very limited because the user interfaces are not adapted to them and also because few of their friends use such services. This paper introduces a mobile Web application designed with older adults' characteristics in mind that integrates a popular social network

Questionnaires measuring movement behaviours in adults and older adults: content description and measurement properties. A systematic review

Background Sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity are constituent parts of a 24h period and there are several questionnaires to measure these movement behaviours, the objective was to systematically review the literature on content and measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported questionnaires measuring movement behaviours in adults and older adults. Methods The databases PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and SPORTDiscus were systematically searched until April 2021. Articles were included if: the questionnaires were design for adults and older adults; the sample size for validity studies had at least 50 participants; at least, both validity and test-retest reliability results of questionnaire that were developed specifically to measure the amount of sleep, sedentary behaviour or physical activity, or their combination were reported; and articles had to be written in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian or Chinese. Findings and conclusions Data extraction, results, studies’ quality, and risk of bias were evaluated using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines. Fifty-five articles were included in this review, describing 60 questionnaires. None of the questionnaires showed adequate criterion validity and adequate reliability, simultaneously; 68.3% showed adequate content validity. The risk of bias for criterion validity and reliability were very low in 72.2% and 23.6% of the studies, respectively. Existing questionnaires have insufficient measurement properties and frequent methodologic limitations, and none was developed considering the 24h movement behaviour paradigm. The lack of valid and reliable questionnaires assessing 24h movement behaviours in an integrated way, precludes accurate monitoring and surveillance systems of 24h movement behaviours.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

(Des)preparo técnico-científico para o cuidado às travestis: percepções de enfermeiras(os)

Aim: to know the perceptions of nurses about transvestites and the technicalscientific preparation to assist them. Method: a descriptive and qualitative field study, carried out in Family Health Strategies, in western Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil, during the second semester of 2014. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with nurses and analyzed based on the thematic analysis. Results: it was identified that the nurses do not know the meaning of being a transvestite, which limits their view to the figure of a man dressed as a woman. Significant gaps in the academic training of these professionals regarding the specificities of transvestite care was perceived. In relation to the professional performance, it was evidenced the lack of knowledge about the public policies and legislation directed to the transvestite population. Conclusion: this research revealed that there is no knowledge of the gender identity of transvestites and that there are limitations regarding the assistential care directed to this publicObjetivo: conocer las percepciones de las(os) enfermeras(os) sobre las travestis y la preparación técnica-científica para asistirlas. Método: estudio práctico, descriptivo y cualitativo, realizado en Estrategias de Salud de la Familia, en el oeste del Rio Grande do Sul/Brasil, en el segundo semestre de 2014. Los datos fueron recolectados por medio de entrevistas semi-estructuradas con enfermeras(os) y analizados con base en análisis temático. Resultados: se identificó que las(os)enfermeras(os) no conocen el significado de lo que es ser una travesti, limitándola a un hombre vestido como mujer. Se identificó importantes lagunas en la formación académica de estos profesionales sobre la atención a las travestis. En relación al desempeño profesional, se evidenció la falta de conocimiento sobre las políticas públicas y la legislación dirigida a estos sujetos. Conclusión: esta investigación reveló que no hay conocimiento acerca de la identidad de género de los travestis y que existe un prejuicio en la práctica de la atención dirigida a este público.Objetivo: conhecer as percepções das(os) enfermeiras(os) acerca das travestis e o preparo técnico-científico para assisti-las. Método: estudo de campo, descritivo e com abordagem qualitativa, realizado em Estratégias Saúde da Família do oeste do Rio Grande do Sul/Brasil, no segundo semestre de 2014. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com enfermeiras(os) e analisados a partir da análise temática. Resultados: identificou-se que as(os) enfermeiras(os) desconhecem o significado do que é ser travesti, limitando-a a figura de um homem vestido como mulher. Foram percebidas lacunas importantes na formação acadêmica destes profissionais quanto às especificidades do cuidado às travestis. Em relação à atuação profissional, evidenciou-se o desconhecimento sobre as políticas públicas e a legislação voltadas à esta população. Conclusão: esta pesquisa revelou que não há conhecimento da identidade de gênero das travestis e existe um comprometimento da prática assistencial voltada a este público