Abstract
The rising number of people living in city centers is connected to an increase of private vehicles, traffic, and associated harmful effects. Efforts have been made to promote a modal shift to the use of more sustainable transportation means, such as walking and cycling, but several factors hinged to safety, comfort, and accessibility, still hinder this goal. Current route planners often focus on two particular dimensions, time and distance, which might not be enough to support other personal perceptions. We need to consider new aspects and different dimensions, such as air quality, noise levels, or people density, fueled by the recent advances in the area of sensorization and the Internet of Things. We tested the idea of an innovative route planner with surveys and focus groups and concluded that there is an interest for more power to customize personal routes, which could be a key element boosting soft mode mobility. © 2021, AHFE International. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Abstract
The spin of the supermassive black hole that resides at the Galactic Center can, in principle, be measured by accurate measurements of the orbits of stars that are much closer to Sgr A* than S2, the orbit of which recently provided the measurement of the gravitational redshift and the Schwarzschild precession. The GRAVITY near-infrared interferometric instrument combining the four 8m telescopes of the VLT provides a spatial resolution of 2-4 mas, breaking the confusion barrier for adaptive-optics-assisted imaging with a single 8-10m telescope. We used GRAVITY to observe Sgr A* over a period of six months in 2019 and employed interferometric reconstruction methods developed in radio astronomy to search for faint objects near Sgr A*. This revealed a slowly moving star of magnitude 18.9 in the K-band within 30 mas of Sgr A*. The position and proper motion of the star are consistent with the previously known star S62, which is at a substantially greater physical distance, but in projection passes close to Sgr A*. Observations in August and September 2019 detected S29 easily, with K-magnitude of 16.6, at approximately 130 mas from Sgr A*. The planned upgrades of GRAVITY, and further improvements in the calibration, offer greater chances of finding stars fainter than K-magnitude of 19.

Abstract

Abstract
In the area of Information and Communication Technologies, in addition to the problem of engagement, students often have difficulties in learning subjects related to modeling and programming. The reasons for these difficulties are well known and described in the literature, pointing to difficulties in abstraction and logic thinking. Knowing that the value of flexible and personalized learning, teachers are changing the way they teach, using different active learning methodologies, such as flipped classroom, project-based learning, and peer instruction. This paper describes an experiment conducted to improve the learning experiences of the students enrolled in the Computer Science bachelor's degree course, attending three curricular units: Information Systems Development, Data Structures, and Web Languages and Technologies. The approach followed by the teachers used project-based learning as an active learning methodology. This methodology allows us to achieve four main objectives: (i) improve student engagement; (ii) improve learning outcomes achievement (iii) increase the course success rate and (iv) allow students to experience the need for the software development lifecycle, feeling that software engineering is not a block-based process but depending on previous activity, often leads to the need to go back in the process. The results obtained with the use of the active methodology were well accepted by the students and allowed both teachers and students to reach the objectives set.

Abstract
This paper presents a legged-wheeled hybrid robotic vehicle that uses a combination of rigid and non-rigid joints, allowing it to be more impact-tolerant. The robot has four legs, each one with three degrees of freedom. Each leg has two non-rigid rotational joints with completely passive components for damping and accumulation of kinetic energy, one rigid rotational joint, and a driving wheel. Each leg uses three independent DC motors-one for each joint, as well as a fourth one for driving the wheel. The four legs have the same position configuration, except for the upper hip joint. The vehicle was designed to be modular, low-cost, and its parts to be interchangeable. Beyond this, the vehicle has multiple operation modes, including a low-power mode. Across this article, the design, modeling, and control stages are presented, as well as the communication strategy. A prototype platform was built to serve as a test bed, which is described throughout the article. The mechanical design and applied hardware for each leg have been improved, and these changes are described. The mechanical and hardware structure of the complete robot is also presented, as well as the software and communication approaches. Moreover, a realistic simulation is introduced, along with the obtained results.