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Publications

Publications by CSE

2021

EcoAndroid: An Android Studio Plugin for Developing Energy-Efficient Java Mobile Applications

Authors
Ribeiro, A; Ferreira, JF; Mendes, A;

Publication
2021 IEEE 21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOFTWARE QUALITY, RELIABILITY AND SECURITY (QRS 2021)

Abstract
Mobile devices have become indispensable in our daily life and reducing the energy consumed by them has become essential. However, developing energy-efficient mobile applications is not a trivial task. To address this problem, we present EcoAndroid, an Android Studio plugin that automatically applies energy patterns to Java source code. It currently supports ten different cases of energy-related refactorings, divided over five energy patterns taken from the literature. We used EcoAndroid to analyze 100 Java mobile applications (approximate to 1.5M LOC) and we found that 35 of the projects had a total of 95 energy code smells. EcoAndroid was able to automatically refactor all the code smells identified.

2021

Hands-free interaction in immersive virtual reality: A systematic review

Authors
Monteiro, P; Goncalves, G; Coelho, H; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Abstract
Hands are the most important tool to interact with virtual environments, and they should be available to perform the most critical tasks. For example, a surgeon in VR should keep his/her hands on the instruments and be able to do secondary tasks without performing a disruptive event to the operative task. In this common scenario, one can observe that hands are not available for interaction. The goal of this systematic review is to survey the literature and identify which hands-free interfaces are used, the performed interaction tasks, what metrics are used for interface evaluation, and the results of such evaluations. From 79 studies that met the eligibility criteria, the voice is the most studied interface, followed by the eye and head gaze. Some novel interfaces were brain interfaces and face expressions. System control and selection represent most of the interaction tasks studied and most studies evaluate interfaces for usability. Despite the best interface depending on the task and study, the voice was found to be versatile and showed good results amongst the studies. More research is recommended to improve the practical use of the interfaces and to evaluate the interfaces more formally.

2021

Programming Exercises Interoperability: The Case of a Non-Picky Consumer

Authors
Queirós, R; Paiva, JC; Leal, JP;

Publication
10th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies, SLATE 2021, July 1-2, 2021, Vila do Conde/Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.

Abstract
Problem-solving is considered one of the most important skills to retain in the coming decades for building a modern and proactive society. In this realm, computer programming learning is vital to enrich those skills. Practicing in this area boils down to solve programming exercises. In order to foster this practice, it is necessary to provide students with the best of the breed automated tools and a good set of exercises in a fair quantity covering the curricula of a typical programming course. Despite the increasing appearance of automated tools such as program evaluators, gamification engines and sophisticated web environments, access to exercises remains problematic. In fact, although the existence of several code repositories (most for feed computer programming contests), the majority of them store the exercises in proprietary formats and without any access facilities hindering their use. This leaves no other option to teachers but to manually create programming exercises which is time-consuming and error prone, or simply, reuse the same exercises, from previous years, which is considered as a detrimental and limiting approach to enhance multi-faceted and creative programmers. The article surveys the current interoperability efforts on programming exercises, more precisely, in terms of serialization formats and communication protocols. This study will sustain the selection of an API to feed a code playground called LearnJS with random programming exercises.

2021

Carsharing: A review of academic literature and business practices toward an integrated decision-support framework

Authors
Golalikhani, M; Oliveira, BB; Carravilla, MA; Oliveira, JF; Antunes, AP;

Publication
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW

Abstract
Designing a viable carsharing system in a competitive environment is challenging and often dependent on a myriad of decisions. This paper establishes and presents an integrated conceptual decision-support framework for carsharing systems, encompassing critical decisions that should be made by carsharing organizations and users. To identify the main decisions in a carsharing system, and the inputs and interactions among them, it is crucial to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the literature as well as the business practices and context. To this aim, a holistic and in-depth literature review is conducted to structure distinct streams of literature and their main findings. Then, we describe some of the key decisions and business practices that are often oversimplified in the literature. Finally, we propose a conceptual decision-support framework that systematizes the interactions between the usually isolated problems in the academic literature and business practices, integrating the perspectives of carsharing organizations and of their users. From the proposed framework, we identify relevant research gaps and ways to bridge them in the future, toward more realistic and applicable research.

2021

Immersive Virtual Reality for Foreign Language Education: A PRISMA Systematic Review

Authors
Peixoto, B; Pinto, R; Melo, M; Cabral, L; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE ACCESS

Abstract
Immersion is a proven method of learning a foreign language and using Virtual Reality to achieve that immersion has high potential educational benefits. However, there are no recent systematic reviews that combine both foreign language education and immersive Virtual Reality. This systematic review aims to identify features, educational methods, technologies, and gaps of immersive virtual reality for foreign and second language education. PRISMA method was followed to carry out the systematic review. From the analysis of the results, two main conclusions were drawn. Firstly, the relation between immersive Virtual Reality and foreign language learning is quite positive, particularly when compared with conventional pedagogical practices. Not only that, the connection between immersive Virtual Reality and the user's motivation and satisfaction is also quite positive. Lastly, limitations such as the low sample of studies and gaps in the literature are addressed, and directions for future work and the area's progress are pointed out.

2021

Mooshak's Diet Update: Introducing YAPExIL Format to Mooshak (Short Paper)

Authors
Paiva, JC; Queirós, R; Leal, JP;

Publication
10th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies, SLATE 2021, July 1-2, 2021, Vila do Conde/Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.

Abstract
Practice is pivotal in learning programming. As many other automated assessment tools for programming assignments, Mooshak has been adopted by numerous educational practitioners to support them in delivering timely and accurate feedback to students during exercise solving. These tools specialize in the delivery and assessment of blank-sheet coding questions. However, the different phases of a student's learning path may demand distinct types of exercises (e.g., bug fix and block sorting) to foster new competencies such as debugging programs and understanding unknown source code or, otherwise, to break the routine and keep engagement. Recently, a format for describing programming exercises - YAPExIL -, supporting different types of activities, has been introduced. Unfortunately, no automated assessment tool yet supports this novel format. This paper describes a JavaScript library to transform YAPExIL packages into Mooshak problem packages (i.e., MEF format), keeping support for all exercise types. Moreover, its integration in an exercise authoring tool is described.

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