Abstract
Higher education institutions are at this stage, on the one hand, faced with challenges never seen before and, on the other hand, their action is moving very rapidly into digital learning spaces. These challenges are increasingly complex because of the global competition for resources, students and teachers. In addition, the amount of data produced inside and outside higher education institutions has grown exponentially, so more and more institutions are exploring the potential of Big Data to meet these challenges. In this context, higher education institutions and key stakeholders (students, teachers, and governance) can derive multiple benefits from learning analytics using different data analysis strategies to produce summative, real-time and predictive information and recommendations. However, it may be questioned whether institutions, academic administrative staff as well as including those with responsibility for governance, are prepared for learning analytics? As a response to the question raised in this paper is presented an extension of a disruptive conceptual approach to higher education, using information gathered by IoT and based on Big Data & Cloud Computing and Learning Analytics analysis tools, with the main focus on the stakeholder governance. © 2017 Association for Computing Machinery.

Abstract
Discount and Outlet E-commerce Platforms (DOEP) are technologies with more and more influence in people's lives, and the literature on this subject is still somewhat scarce in relation to the proportion these platforms have today, in the context of e-commerce. In this study, the research team aims to characterize the variables that have the greatest relative importance in DOEP adoption, with the use of 25 experts related to IT and e-commerce in general. For this, a succinct literature analysis is done, in order to aggregate all the constructs that may influence the adoption of this technology. The contribution is distributed in the form of practical and theoretical implications, as well as future lines of action for possible investigations.

Abstract
The Web accessibility issue has been subject of study for a wide number of organizations all around the World. The current paper describes an accessibility evaluation that aimed to test the Portuguese enterprises websites. Has the presented results state, the evaluated websites accessibility levels are significantly bad, but the majority of the detected errors are not very complex from a technological point-of-view. With this is mind, our research team, in collaboration with a Portuguese enterprise named ANO and the support of its UTAD-ANOgov/PEPPOL research project, elaborated an improvement proposal, directed to the Web content developers, which aimed on helping these specialists to better understand and implement Web accessibility features. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Abstract
The need and benefits of digital accessibility are evident and, with the current ubiquitous trends, the profits are hugely potentiated. However, the fast evolution is instigating some issues in this area's accessibility. To understand the conceivable impact of these issues' tenacity in society, general accessibility features are explained as a reasonable application for all parties. Nevertheless, the potential of ubiquitous computation in order to promote social integration of citizens with impairments is focused and elucidated. The benefits of applying so much effort on accessibility as well as on usability is asserted and related to universal design. Hence, in order to promote a more universal applications development, the mobile operating systems available in the market, which are more plausible to be chosen and used by people with impairments, are scrutinized and shown from a standpoint of a developer that has accessibility and usability concerns. The paper leads to the conclusions that ubiquitous computation may have power to nullify impairments but, to be assistive, several issues regarding the devices and the operating system that runs on them have to be taken in mind and considered.

Abstract
3D Virtual Worlds are being used for education and training purposes in a cross-disciplinary way. However, its widespread adoption, particularly in formal learning contexts, is far from being a reality due a broad range of technological challenges. In this reflection paper, our main goal is to argue why and how identity federation should be discussed and adopted as a solution to several barriers that educators and institutions face when using Virtual Worlds. By presenting a clear set of scenarios within different dimensions of the educational process, as classroom management, content reuse, learning analytics, accessibility, and research, we consider identity, traceability, privacy, accountability, and interoperability as main concerns in order to support our argument. Finally, we conclude the paper by presenting paths to a proposal for a workable solution, through the analysis and reflection of different and current efforts that has been made by other teams, towards future technological developments.

Abstract
The increase in the complexity inherent to public administrative activities, including public procurement, has led ANO to develop a public e-procurement platform in order for Portuguese public entities to perform their contracts and acquisitions. Given the introduction of European PEPPOL standards and the requirement for all Portuguese e-procurement platforms to be WCAG 2.0 level A compliant, ANO company established a consortium with the UTAD University in order to improve their platform and develop the required features. By using a specially designed stage-based work methodology, the R&D project was carried out with success and all initial goals were achieved. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015.