2016
Authors
Pedrosa D.; Cravino J.; Morgado L.; Barreira C.;
Publication
International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education
Abstract
To help students overcome their learning difficulties in the transition from entry-level to advanced computer programming, developing an appropriate set of learning strategies, the SimProgramming teaching approach has been adopted at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal). This approach is based on four conceptual foundations: businesslike learning environment, self-regulated learning, co-regulated learning, and formative assessment. In this approach the students develop an activity based on problem-based learning, with a specific set of tasks based on those four conceptual foundations. The approach was implemented in two courses from the second and third curricular years of the bachelor programmes in Informatics Engineering and Information & Communication Technologies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with students (n=32) at the end of the courses, to try to identify the students’ strategies for self-regulation of learning in the activity developed within the SimProgramming approach. The main strategies identified were: organization, planning, time management, identification of difficulties, resolution of the difficulties encountered, work review, identification of the factors that influenced their motivation, and structure of the environment. The factors influencing the motivation most often identified by students were the impact of the assessment in the final course grade, the completion of the course, learning, skills development, and teamwork. Generally, students applied strategies to solve the difficulties, in particular by searching for social help and information search. Procrastination was also often identified by students. Strategies of time management, transformation of information, in-depth review, self-reflection, and self-evaluation were referenced scantily. We found that students changed some of their strategies from one course edition to the next. We conclude by recommending the development of educational practices to help students review their work, treat and process the information they find, conduct self-reflection and self-evaluation of their performance during tasks, adopt concentration strategies, and become aware of their specific difficulties.
2016
Authors
Raza, M; Faria, JP; Salazar, R;
Publication
SEKE
Abstract
Software development processes can generate significant amounts of data that can be periodically analyzed to identify performance problems, determine their root causes and devise improvement actions. However, conducting that analysis manually is challenging because of the potentially large amount of data to analyze and the effort and expertise required. ProcessPAIR is a novel tool designed to help developers analyze their performance data with less effort, by automatically identifying and ranking performance problems and potential root causes. The analysis is based on performance models derived from the performance data of a large community of developers. In this paper, we present the results of an experiment conducted in the context of Personal Software Process (PSP) training, to show that ProcessPAIR is able to accurately identify and rank performance problems and potential root causes of individual developers so that subsequent manual analysis for the identification of deeper causes and improvement actions can be properly focused.
2016
Authors
Marques, M; Bessa, R; Moreira, C; Mousinho, P; Gouveia, C; Gerlich, M; Leiria, A; Madureira, A; Rodriguez, S;
Publication
IET Conference Publications
Abstract
This paper presents the approach followed under project SENSIBLE to prove, in field-test scenarios, the benefits of integrating and coordinating small-scale storage devices to: (i) reduce the impact of Distributed Renewable Energy Sources in the Low Voltage grid and (ii) support the transition and the operation in islanding mode in the demonstration grid. The functional and ICT architecture developed for the Portuguese Demonstrator of Évora is presented, focusing in the use cases defined to test and validate the tools developed to enable the active management of the LV grid during both normal and islanded modes.
2016
Authors
Kanda, J; de Carvalho, A; Hruschka, E; Soares, C; Brazdil, P;
Publication
NEUROCOMPUTING
Abstract
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most studied optimization problems. Various meta heuristics (MHs) have been proposed and investigated on many instances of this problem. It is widely accepted that the best MH varies for different instances. Ideally, one should be able to recommend the best MHs for a new TSP instance without having to execute them. However, this is a very difficult task. We address this task by using a meta-learning approach based on label ranking algorithms. These algorithms build a mapping that relates the characteristics of those instances (i.e., the meta-features) with the relative performance (i.e., the ranking) of MHs, based on (meta-)data extracted from TSP instances that have been already solved by those MHs. The success of this approach depends on the quality of the meta-features that describe the instances. In this work, we investigate four different sets of meta-features based on different measurements of the properties of TSP instances: edge and vertex measures, complex network measures, properties from the MHs, and subsampling landmarkers properties. The models are investigated in four different TSP scenarios presenting symmetry and connection strength variations. The experimental results indicate that meta-learning models can accurately predict rankings of MHs for different TSP scenarios. Good solutions for the investigated TSP instances can be obtained from the prediction of rankings of MHs, regardless of the learning algorithm used at the meta level. The experimental results also show that the definition of the set of meta-features has an important impact on the quality of the solutions obtained.
2016
Authors
Pato, ML; Teixeira, AA;
Publication
SOCIOLOGIA RURALIS
Abstract
Entrepreneurship has become a dynamic field of research in the last two decades. However, rural entrepreneurship' has been largely overlooked. It seems therefore timely to present a quantitative survey of the literature in this particular area. Based on 181 articles on rural entrepreneurship published in journals indexed in Scopus, we found that rural entrepreneurship is an essentially European concern, whose most prolific authors are affiliated with institutions in the UK and Spain. Organisational characteristics, policy measures and institutional frameworks and governance have attracted considerable attention in recent years, being considered emergent topics of research. In contrast, theory building has not attracted much research over the period in analysis, which suggests that the theoretical body of rural entrepreneurship is still incipient, hindering the establishment of its boundaries and of a suitable research agenda. Empirical literature on rural entrepreneurship has focused mainly on developed countries, most notably, the UK, the USA, Spain, Finland and Greece. Given the potential rural entrepreneurship represents for less developed and underdeveloped countries, more research on the topic targeting these countries is an imperative.
2016
Authors
Martins, José; Morgado, Leonel; Cardoso, Vitor;
Publication
Videojogos 2016 - 9.ª Conferência de Ciências e Artes dos Videojogos
Abstract
Apresentamos o resultado de uma exploração prática da tecnologia de mundos virtuais imersivos multiutilizador High Fidelity, baseada em tecnologia Web. Esta tecnologia permite criar mundos virtuais cujas formas de interligação, controlo e interação tiram partido de uma Interface de Programação de Aplicações em JavaScript. Através do caso prático de desenvolvimento de um protótipo de jogo educativo simples, descrevemos a tecnologia High Fidelity, incluindo o tipo de scripts, a arquitetura inerente e as suas características de desenvolvimento e utilização. Destacamos as dificuldades inerentes ao estado atual da plataforma, em constante reformulação e algumas peculiaridades.
The access to the final selection minute is only available to applicants.
Please check the confirmation e-mail of your application to obtain the access code.