Acesso multimodal a vídeos georreferenciados através da forma, velocidade e tempo em dispositivos móveis

Tese de mestrado, Informática, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014Um volume crescente de vídeo digital é acedido, capturado e publicado diariamente na Web, a partir de diferentes plataformas e dispositivos, que cada vez mais podem georreferenciar a informação que capturam e acedem, permitindo enriquecer a sua contextualização. No entanto, a procura de vídeo tem sido limitada a palavras-chave ou a conjuntos de parâmetros, dando um suporte limitado às dimensões espacial e temporal. Os dispositivos móveis são atualmente usados de forma generalizada e estão cada vez mais a incorporar um amplo conjunto de sensores e actuadores com o potencial de capturar e apresentar vídeo em 360º e os seus metadados, tendo a capacidade de suportar experiências de utilizador mais poderosas e imersivas com vídeo. Propomos formas inovadoras de procurar, navegar e visualizar vídeo, tirando partido do potencial dos sensores e interfaces móveis nas dimensões espacial e temporal. Este trabalho foi desenvolvido no contexto do projeto de investigação ImTV, e explora modalidades inovadoras para procurar e aceder a vídeos georeferenciados, onde as dimensões espacio-temporais são de importância central, especialmente através da forma e velocidade das trajectórias dos vídeos, e do tempo, usando interfaces multimodais interativas em dispositivos móveis, envolvendo gestos e movimento, com o potencial de criar interacções mais naturais, um maior envolvimento, sensação de presença e imersão. A avaliação baseou-se em protótipos de baixa e alta fidelidade e teve resultados positivos. Os utilizadores consideraram a maioria das funcionalidades úteis, satisfatórias, por vezes divertidas, e fáceis de usar. As diferentes opções e modalidades foram consideradas interessantes e adequadas para diferentes cenários de uso que foram identificados e sugeridos. Alguns receios e desafios foram identificados e poderão ser levados em conta em futuros desenvolvimentos, em direcção a formas interativas de acesso a conteúdo mais flexíveis e eficazes, através de interacções mais naturais com dispositivos móveis, por si só ou como segundos ecrãs relativamente a ecrãs maiores numa TV ou em grandes superfícies em espaços públicos.An increasing amount of digital video is accessed, captured, and uploaded to the Web everyday, from different platforms and devices, that increasingly can georeferenced the information they capture and access, allowing to enrich their contextualization. But video search has been limited to keywords, or a set of parameters, providing limited support for temporal and spatial dimensions. Mobile devices are commonly used and increasingly incorporating a wide range of sensors and actuators with the potential to capture and display 360º video and metadata, with the power to support more powerful and immersive video user experiences. We propose novel ways to search, navigate and visualize video leveraging the potential of mobile sensors and interfaces in temporal and spatial dimensions. This work was carried out in the context of the ImTV research project, and proposes novel ways to search and access georeferenced videos, where these dimensions are of central importance, especially by video trajectories shape and speed, and by time, using a multimodal interactive mobile interface, involving gestures and movement, with the potential for more natural interactions, increased engagement, sense of presence and immersion. The evaluation based on low and high-fidelity prototypes had positive results. Users found most features useful, satisfactory, sometimes fun, and easy to use. Different options and modalities were found interesting and adequate for different use scenarios that could be identified and suggested, and some concerns and challenges were identified to be taken into account in future developments, towards more flexible and effective interactive content access, through more natural interaction with mobile devices on their own or as second screens to a larger screen on TV or public displays

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)