Abstract
The maintenance of military aircraft is complex and exhaustive, requiring an accurate training program. This process is not fault tolerant and requires certification renewal periodically. Furthermore, the process involves many professionals and resources, requiring phases of maintenance and verification of the tasks. Cooperation between professionals in the overall process is essential and requires strong team coordination. It is a highly costly process, since aircrafts are scarce and their readiness is essential for missions, and it requires a scheduling effort between all team members and aircrafts. The availability of tools that allow intensive training without aircraft presence is an asset to the maintenance squadrons. Virtual worlds have simulation and collaboration capabilities to implement this process. This paper presents a software architecture developed for training engine maintenance squadrons for certification, using virtual worlds platforms. This architecture is being tested in cooperation with the Portuguese Air Force and an engine maintenance squadron of F-16 aircrafts.

Abstract
Nowadays it is possible to disseminate information to the all world in real time using current communication tools supported mostly by the Internet. The work of several organizations reporting a multitude of problems that our society faces can be sustained by participatory platforms, which stimulate the collaboration of participants all over the world. In this paper we present a technological platform that provides a shared environment for collaborative social activism. We adapted the platform to a particular organization, Machsom Watch that reports human rights abuses in Israelis checkpoints. Finally we present some preliminary results obtained by ethnographic research using the developed platform.

Abstract
Besides services traditionally available in wireless networks, new ones may be offered that transparently adjust and adapt to the user context. The user would have more choice and flexibility if not only could he use platform and third-party services, but also compose his own services in an ad-hoc way, making it available to other users, involving them collaboratively in the construction of a wide set of services. Moreover, collaboration among users can be fostered by the availability of awareness services in mobile environments that enable them to execute joint tasks and activities. This paper presents iCas, an architecture to create context-aware services on the fly, and discusses its main modules. Also a collaborative application scenario is briefly described.

Abstract
This paper presents a novel approach to teaching and learning computer programming, using the three-dimensional virtual world Second Life (R) to develop a programming community of practice. Our students have developed their programming projects as part of this community as an alternative way of learning. The learning of programming is a difficult process, with many students experiencing difficulties which result in high levels of failure in introductory programming courses. In this paper, we describe and analyse how this approach spurred students' motivation and interest in learning programming. We also present observations on the difficulties felt by both students and teachers in the development of projects and activities, and discuss the approaches taken to overcome those difficulties.

Abstract
The production of scientific publications requires usually the participation of several authors that contribute to the final result according to their role in the work being described. Nevertheless, this is obviously a cooperative activity and requires the simultaneous presence of the collaborators or the exchange of documents and annotations through email. Cooperative editors introduced a further step in the cooperation, but the current solutions do not accommodate issues like referencing and publishing. This gap motivated us to build a platform that integrates the three main functionalities required to effectively produce scientific publications: a cooperative text editor, a cooperative reference manager and a connector to scientific digital repositories. This paper presents this solution, which we called PaperFlow and was specified with the aid of a study conducted with Portuguese and Spanish researchers, which results are also presented, with the aim of evaluating the platform requirements.

Abstract
Nowadays a growing number of research and projects emphasize a culture of childhood that sees the child as an active participant in social life and, in particular, in the planning and decision processes of the spaces where they live most of their time. Under these projects children are asked to have a direct role on the configuration of several spaces, such as public and school playgrounds. This paper refers to a work in progress where a version control system for a multiuser virtual world is being developed to address some of the challenges that this kind of task and participants bring. Particularly this tool is being designed and prototyped to foster children's involvement in primary school activities where a class participation and consensus are requested on the several school spatial configurations.