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This paper describes the participation of FEUP, from the University of Porto, in the TREC 2010 Blog Track. FEUP participated in the baseline blog distillation task with work focused on the use of link features available in the TREC Blogs08 collection. The approach presented in this paper uses the link information available in most individual posts to amplify each post's score. Blog scores, and subsequent ranks, are obtained by combining individual post scores. We boost post scores using the in-degree of each post and the h-index of each blog. This results in an improvement of P@10, over our baseline, for the in-degree and the h-index runs. When compared to the in- degree, the h-index run results in higher performance values for each of the applied evaluation metrics.

Abstract
Biodiversity information can be found in diverse information systems, ranging from large technical repositories for research purposes to dedicated databases supporting the web presence of natural sites. To deal with individual botanical objects, it is important to adopt the established scientific taxonomy. Providing a satisfying experience with current interface devices is also mandatory. Two problems have been addressed in this work: the unique identification of the objects and the representation of their physical location. The former has been tackled with QR code, a two-dimensional barcode standard, and the latter with the use of a PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial database. The paper describes the development and test of a Web information system integrating physical identification and geo-referencing. The application in biodiversity information management shows that low-cost, state-of-the-art technologies can provide appropriate solutions even for small- and medium-sized natural sites, incorporating existing scientific information on species and contributing for a growing record of their occurrences. The system was tested on a university garden and can be used by site maintainers, visitors and researchers. The dataset collected in the site can be exported according to the Darwin Core biodiversity standard for research purposes.

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In this paper we introduce a classification for spatio-temporal systems based on the properties of the represented objects. Building on this classification, we assert that complex objects can be derived from simpler ones, following an evolutionary approach which starts with the study of simple objects and ends by enriching them with new features. This paper focuses on the definition of a data model for the representation of moving points. The model is based on the decomposition of the trajectory of moving points into sections. The movement within each section of a trajectory is described by a variability function. Because for most systems is not possible to store the exact knowledge about the movement of an object, the answers to queries may be imprecise. We propose two additional approaches to deal with impression-the superset and the subset semantics-based on a maximum value for the variability function, and a smooth technique to integrate them in the model. Finally, we analyze certain functional aspects of the implementation of the data model in a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) and outline directions for future research.