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Publications

Publications by CRACS

2023

Fostering pedagogy through micro and adaptive learning in higher education: Trends, tools, and applications

Authors
Queirós, R; Cruz, M; Pinto, C; Mascarenhas, D;

Publication
Fostering Pedagogy Through Micro and Adaptive Learning in Higher Education: Trends, Tools, and Applications

Abstract
Fostering Pedagogy Through Micro and Adaptive Learning in Higher Education: Trends, Tools, and Applications is a timely and groundbreaking book that addresses the challenges of engaging the digital generations in the teaching-learning process, intensified by the pandemic. Written by Ricardo Queirós, a renowned researcher in e-learning interoperability and programming languages, the book offers a unique perspective on using micro and adaptive learning approaches to create immersive and personalized environments that cater to the learning styles and paces of diverse students. The book covers innovative trends, tools, and applications that enable educators to implement pedagogical practices that enhance the teaching-learning experience. It explores topics such as artificial intelligence in education, adaptive hypermedia, differentiated instruction, and micro-gamification design, providing readers with practical tools to create personalized and immersive learning environments. This book is a valuable resource for professors of any domain, practitioners, and students pursuing education, as well as research scholars looking to expand their understanding of e-learning and pedagogical innovation. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of education and how digital technologies can be leveraged to create engaging and immersive learning environments. © 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.

2023

Integrating Gamified Educational Escape Rooms in Learning Management Systems (Short Paper)

Authors
Queirós, R; Pinto, CMA; Cruz, M; Mascarenhas, D;

Publication
12th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies, SLATE 2023, June 26-28, 2023, Vila do Conde, Portugal

Abstract
Escape rooms offer an immersive and engaging learning experience that encourages critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. Although they have shown promising results in promoting student engagement in the teaching-learning process, they continue to operate as independent systems that are not fully integrated into educational environments. This work aims to detail the integration of educational escape rooms, based on international standards, with the typical central component of an educational setting - the learning management system (LMS). In order to proof this concept, we present the integration of a math escape room with the Moodle LMS using the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) specification. Currently, this specification comprises a set of Web services that enable seamless integration between learning platforms and external tools and is not limited to any specific LMS which fosters learning interoperability. With this implementation, a single sign-on ecosystem is created, where teachers and students can interact in a simple and immersive way. The major contribution of this work is to serve as an integration guide for other applications and in different domains. © Ricardo Queirós, Carla Pinto, Mário Cruz, and Daniela Mascarenhas;

2023

Quantitative Global Memory

Authors
Alves, S; Kesner, D; Ramos, M;

Publication
Logic, Language, Information, and Computation - 29th International Workshop, WoLLIC 2023, Halifax, NS, Canada, July 11-14, 2023, Proceedings

Abstract
We show that recent approaches to static analysis based on quantitative typing systems can be extended to programming languages with global state. More precisely, we define a call-by-value language equipped with operations to access a global memory, together with a semantic model based on a (tight) multi-type system that captures exact measures of time and space related to evaluation of programs. We show that the type system is quantitatively sound and complete with respect to the operational semantics of the language. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

2023

Collecting, Processing and Secondary Using Personal and (Pseudo)Anonymized Data in Smart Cities

Authors
Sampaio, S; Sousa, PR; Martins, C; Ferreira, A; Antunes, L; Cruz-Correia, R;

Publication
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL

Abstract
Smart cities, leveraging IoT technologies, are revolutionizing the quality of life for citizens. However, the massive data generated in these cities also poses significant privacy risks, particularly in de-anonymization and re-identification. This survey focuses on the privacy concerns and commonly used techniques for data protection in smart cities, specifically addressing geolocation data and video surveillance. We categorize the attacks into linking, predictive and inference, and side-channel attacks. Furthermore, we examine the most widely employed de-identification and anonymization techniques, highlighting privacy-preserving techniques and anonymization tools; while these methods can reduce the privacy risks, they are not enough to address all the challenges. In addition, we argue that de-identification must involve properties such as unlikability, selective disclosure and self-sovereignty. This paper concludes by outlining future research challenges in achieving complete de-identification in smart cities.

2023

Online Influence Forest for Streaming Anomaly Detection

Authors
Martins, I; Resende, JS; Gama, J;

Publication
ADVANCES IN INTELLIGENT DATA ANALYSIS XXI, IDA 2023

Abstract
As the digital world grows, data is being collected at high speed on a continuous and real-time scale. Hence, the imposed imbalanced and evolving scenario that introduces learning from streaming data remains a challenge. As the research field is still open to consistent strategies that assess continuous and evolving data properties, this paper proposes an unsupervised, online, and incremental anomaly detection ensemble of influence trees that implement adaptive mechanisms to deal with inactive or saturated leaves. This proposal features the fourth standardized moment, also known as kurtosis, as the splitting criteria and the isolation score, Shannon's information content, and the influence function of an instance as the anomaly score. In addition to improving interpretability, this proposal is also evaluated on publicly available datasets, providing a detailed discussion of the results.

2023

TorKameleon: Improving Tor's Censorship Resistance with K-anonymization and Media-based Covert Channels

Authors
Vilalonga, JA; Resende, JS; Domingos, H;

Publication
22nd IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications, TrustCom 2024, Exeter, UK, November 1-3, 2023

Abstract
Anonymity networks like Tor significantly enhance online privacy but are vulnerable to correlation attacks by state-level adversaries. While covert channels encapsulated in media protocols, particularly WebRTC-based encapsulation, have demonstrated effectiveness against passive traffic correlation attacks, their resilience against active correlation attacks remains unexplored, and their compatibility with Tor has been limited. This paper introduces TorKameleon, a censorship evasion solution designed to protect Tor users from both passive and active correlation attacks. TorKameleon employs K-anonymization techniques to fragment and reroute traffic through multiple TorKameleon proxies, while also utilizing covert WebRTC-based channels or TLS tunnels to encapsulate user traffic. © 2023 IEEE.

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