Abstract
Social organizations are usually subject to a high number of requests. In addition, it deals with a variety of problems to which an answer is needed. In this context, it is important to understand how these organizations can better support their process activity: Can technologies help to solve the problems of social organizations in a more efficient way, bringing greater benefits to the community? This paper presents a study on the use of information technologies in Portuguese social organizations to meet the needs of these organizations in responding to current challenges. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Abstract
Previous works have shown the great potential of Virtual Reality (VR) in the area of Education. This paper studies if users can learn a second language when using a gamified VR application through an English learning test and how learning influences user satisfaction, sense of presence, cybersickness, and quality of experience through questionnaires. For this purpose, the VirtualeaRn game was developed. 20 Portuguese participants were exposed to the application, and the learning test was used before and after using the application. Result analysis shows an increase in learning results after using the VR gamified application, indicating the technology's efficacy in learning a second language. A positive user satisfaction, sense of presence, and quality of experience were also found. Some cases of cybersickness were reported. The outcomes are promising and provide enough information to show the potential of the gamification of VR technology for the area of learning a second language.

Abstract
Introduction: Previous studies have shown that adverse childhood experiences negatively impact child development, with consequences throughout the lifespan. Some of these consequences include the exacerbation or onset of several pathologies and risk behaviors. Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 398 individuals aged 20 years or older from the Porto metropolitan area, with quotas, was collected. The evaluation was conducted using an anonymous questionnaire that included sociodemographic questions about exposure to adverse childhood experiences, a list of current health conditions, questions about risk behaviors, the AUDIT-C test, the Fagerstrom test and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-brief form. Variables were quantified to measure adverse childhood experiences, pathologies, and risk behaviors in adult individuals for comparison purposes. Results: Individuals with different forms of adverse childhood experiences present higher rates of smoking dependence, self-harm behaviors, victimization of/aggression toward intimate partners, early onset of sexual life, sexually transmitted infections, multiple sexual partners, abortions, anxiety, depression, diabetes, arthritis, high cholesterol, hypertension, and stroke. Different associations are analyzed and presented. Discussion and Conclusions: The results show that individuals with adverse childhood experiences have higher total scores for more risk behaviors and health conditions than individuals without traumatic backgrounds. These results are relevant for health purposes and indicate the need for further research to promote preventive and protective measures.

Abstract
This work addresses the problem of planning a robot configuration and grasp to position a shared object during forceful human-robot collaboration, such as a puncturing or a cutting task. Particularly, our goal is to find a robot configuration that positions the jointly manipulated object such that the muscular effort of the human, operating on the same object, is minimized while also ensuring the stability of the interaction for the robot. This raises three challenges. First, we predict the human muscular effort given a human-robot combined kinematic configuration and the interaction forces of a task. To do this, we perform task-space to muscle-space mapping for two different musculoskeletal models of the human arm. Second, we predict the human body kinematic configuration given a robot configuration and the resulting object pose in the workspace. To do this, we assume that the human prefers the body configuration that minimizes the muscular effort. And third, we ensure that, under the forces applied by the human, the robot grasp on the object is stable and the robot joint torques are within limits. Addressing these three challenges, we build a planner that, given a forceful task description, can output the robot grasp on an object and the robot configuration to position the shared object in space. We quantitatively analyze the performance of the planner and the validity of our assumptions. We conduct experiments with human subjects to measure their kinematic configurations, muscular activity, and force output during collaborative puncturing and cutting tasks. The results illustrate the effectiveness of our planner in reducing the human muscular load. For instance, for the puncturing task, our planner is able to reduce muscular load by \( 69.5\% \) compared to a user-based selection of object poses.

Abstract
Ambient assisted living (AAL) environments represent a key concept for dealing with the inevitable problem of population-ageing. Until recently, the use of computational intensive techniques, like Machine Learning (ML) or Computer Vision (CV), were not suitable for IoT end-nodes due to their limited resources. However, recent advances in edge intelligence have somehow changed this landscape for smart environments. This paper presents an AAL scenario where the use of ML is tested in kitchen appliances recognition using CV. The goal is to help users working with those appliances through Augmented Reality (AR) on a mobile device. Seven types of kitchen appliances were selected: blender, coffee machine, fridge, water kettle, microwave, stove, and toaster. A dataset with nearly 4900 images was organized. Three different deep learning (DL) models from the literature were selected, each with a total number of parameters and architecture compatibles with their execution on mobile devices. The results obtained in the training of these models reveal precision in the test set above 95% for the model with better results. The combination of edge AI and ML opens the application of CV in smart homes and AAL without compromising mandatory requirements as system privacy or latency.

Abstract
The knowledge of the optical properties of biological tissues in a wide spectral range is highly important for the development of noninvasive diagnostic or treatment procedures. The absorption coefficient is one of those properties, from which various information about tissue components can be retrieved. Using transmittance and reflectance spectral measurements acquired from ex vivo rabbit brain cortex samples allowed to calculate its optical properties in the ultraviolet to the near infrared spectral range. Melanin and lipofuscin, the two pigments that are related to the aging of tissues and cells were identified in the cortex absorption. By subtracting the absorption of these pigments from the absorption of the brain cortex, it was possible to evaluate the true ratios for the DNA/RNA and hemoglobin bands in the cortex—12.33-fold (at 260 nm), 12.02-fold (at 411 nm) and 4.47-fold (at 555 nm). Since melanin and lipofuscin accumulation increases with the aging of the brain tissues and are related to the degeneration of neurons and their death, further studies should be performed to evaluate the evolution of pigment accumulation in the brain, so that new optical methods can be developed to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of brain diseases.