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Publications

Publications by SEM

2020

Design of a Route-Planner for Urban Public Transport, Promoting Social Inclusion

Authors
Dias, R; Fontes, T; Galvao, T;

Publication
INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS

Abstract
People that do not have access to the transport system and therefore, a facilitated access to goods and services essential to daily life, can be regarded as transport-related social excluded. This is a big issue, namely for groups of people that have physical, sensorial and/or cognitive limitations. This paper provides guidelines to design route planners for socially excluded groups, by promoting social inclusion in public transportation. For this purpose, a set of mock-up user-interfaces of an inclusive inter-modal route planning application were developed. These interfaces will deliver ready availability of information about infrastructures and other journey related data.

2020

Non-verbal Aspects of Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: a CSCW Taxonomy-development Proposal Integrating the Presence Dimension

Authors
Cruz, A; Paredes, H; Morgado, L; Martins, P;

Publication
JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Abstract
Virtual worlds, particularly those able to provide a three-dimensional physical space, have features that make them suitable to support collaborative activities. These features distinguish virtual worlds from other collaboration tools, but current taxonomies of the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work do not account for several distinctive features of virtual worlds, namely those related with non-verbal communication. We intended to find out how the use of an avatar, gestures, spatial sounds, etc., influence collaboration in order to be able to include non-verbal communication in taxonomies of the field Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Several cases of collaboration in virtual worlds are analysed, to find the impact of these non-verbal characteristics of virtual worlds. We proposed adding the concept of Presence to taxonomies of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and contribute with guidance for future taxonomy development that includes it as a new dimension. This new dimension of Presence is subdivided into "avatar" and "physical space" subdimensions. In turn, these are divided into "physical appearance", "gestures, sounds and animations" and "focus, nimbus and aura"; "environment" and "objects / artefacts". This new taxonomy-development proposal may contribute to inform better design of virtual worlds in support of cooperative work.

2020

Going to the core of hard resource-constrained project scheduling instances

Authors
Coelho, J; Vanhoucke, M;

Publication
COMPUTERS & OPERATIONS RESEARCH

Abstract
The resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is one of the most studied problems in the project scheduling literature, and aims at constructing a project schedule with a minimum makespan that satisfies both the precedence relations of the network and the limited availability of the renewable resources. The problem has attracted attention due to its NP hardness status, and different algorithms have been proposed that solve a wide variety of RCPSP instances to optimality or near-optimality. In this paper, we analyse the hardness of this problem from an experimental point-of-view by testing different algorithms on a huge set of existing instances and detect which ones are difficult to solve. To that purpose, we propose a three-phased approach that makes use of five elementary blocks, well-performing algorithms and a huge amount of computational power to transform easy RCPSP instances into very hard ones. The purpose of this study is to create insight and understanding into what makes an RCPSP instance hard, and propose a new dataset that consists of a small set of instances that are impossible to solve with the algorithms currently existing in the literature. These instances should be as small as possible in terms of number of activities and resources, and should be as diverse as possible in terms of network structure and resource strictness. Such a dataset should enable researchers to focus their attention on the development of radically new algorithms to solve the RCPSP rather than gradually improving current algorithms that can solve the existing RCPSP instances only slightly better.

2020

Performance benchmarking using composite indicators to support regulation of the Portuguese wastewater sector

Authors
Henriques, AA; Camanho, AS; Amorim, P; Silva, JG;

Publication
UTILITIES POLICY

Abstract
This paper develops a benchmarking framework to support performance-based sunshine regulation in the water sector. It uses benefit-of-the-doubt composite indicators formulated with a directional distance function. Weight restrictions are incorporated in the model to account for different perspectives in the performance assessment. The framework is tested using data of the Portuguese regulation authority concerning the activity of wastewater operators. The information obtained using this framework reflects overall performance at the firm level and complements traditional evaluations of regulatory authorities based on the analysis of individual indicators. The results can be used to disseminate best practices, motivate continuous improvement, and foster enhancements in the governance of regulated utilities.

2020

Educação e transformação digital: o habitar do ensinar e do aprender, epistemologias reticulares e ecossistemas de inovação

Authors
Schlemmer, E; Morgado, LC; Moreira, JAM;

Publication
INTERFACES DA EDUCAÇÃO

Abstract
As transformações digitais têm provocado alterações na Educação, mas ainda não disseminadas. A compreensão da natureza, limites e potencialidades dessas transformações, exige um repensar das epistemologias e das teorias de aprendizagem.  Propomos um quadro de interpretação dessas alterações, que encara o ensinar e o aprender enquanto percursos que se coengendram num habitar e co-habitar cada vez mais atópico, em contextos híbridos e multimodais. Por meio desse quadro, é possível compreender a transformação digital na Educação enquanto deslocamento disruptivo num espaço-tempo de interações ecossistêmicas de inovação. Este quadro de interpretação nasce do cruzamento das contribuições de Di Felice sobre os movimentos epistemológico do processo de digitalização que nos leva a uma nova condição habitativa, pós-urbana e atópica, originando  epistemologias reticulares; e da perspectiva dos ecossistemas educacionais como sistemas vivos e cognitivos de Capra, Latour e Di Felice, onde se conectam diferentes ecologias, para além das humanas.

2020

Finding the Gaps about Uses of Immersive Learning Environments: A Survey of Surveys

Authors
Beck, D; Morgado, L; O'Shea, P;

Publication
JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Abstract
Advancing the field of research in Immersive Learning Environments requires avoiding the pitfalls of previous educational technologies. Studies must consider the actual use of these environments and the context where it occurs, not simply the technocentric perspectives on these environments. This paper provides an overview and analysis of surveys on this topic, in order to map the field and find out which information on actual uses of Immersive Learning Environments are reported, and hence which gaps need to be covered towards a robust, encompassing knowledge on their relationship with learning. Collected accounts of use were clustered via thematic analysis and contrasted with research areas in learning and technology, highlighting the gaps in the field and serving as a blueprint for research agendas on uses of immersive learning environments.

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