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Publications

2021

Serious Games for seniors: Learning safe behaviors on the web Position paper

Authors
Bernardino, I; Baptista, RJV; de Almeida, JMEB; Sao Mamede, JHP;

Publication
PROCEEDINGS OF 2021 16TH IBERIAN CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES (CISTI'2021)

Abstract
In a modern society, seniors want to be a part of the digital world and the research in progress seeks to present whether through Serious Games can help their learning process and understanding of cybersecurity when online browsing, namely, deciding which actions to make when facing an eminent threat. this position paper aims to presents a new research on how Serious Games can help seniors to become more aware in the cybersecurity theme and how to be more careful when search the web. In this research the methodology apply is the Action Research, by identifying the problem - lack of knowledge that seniors have on the online threats and promoting an action - the Serious Game played to teach and motivate the senior to become safer online.

2021

Label-Free Anti-Human IgG Biosensor Based on Chemical Modification of a Long Period Fiber Grating Surface

Authors
Mendes, JP; Coelho, LCC; Pereira, VP; Azenha, MA; Jorge, PAS; Pereira, CM;

Publication
Chemistry Proceedings

Abstract
This work introduces a method specially developed to produce a biorecognition element based on modified Stöber silica nanoparticles by the covalent immobilization of the human IgG. The sensing structure is based on long period fiber gratings (LPFG), specially developed to allow the interaction of the electromagnetic wave with the target analytes through its evanescent field. The surface was modified by the immobilization of the IgG-modified nanoparticles serving has recognition elements for specific target molecules. The resulting configuration was tested in the presence of anti-human IgG, recording the refractometric response of the modified LPFG in contact with different amounts of analyte. The selectivity of the sensor was also assessed.

2021

Customer experience research: intellectual structure and future research opportunities

Authors
Silva, JHO; Mendes, GHS; Miguel, PCA; Amorim, M; Teixeira, JG;

Publication
JOURNAL OF SERVICE THEORY AND PRACTICE

Abstract
Purpose This article aims to synthesize and integrate current research on customer experience (CX), identifying the intellectual structure of the field, systematizing a conceptual framework and identifying future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach To analyze 629 articles published in peer-reviewed journals in almost four decades, this study employs both bibliometric co-keyword and thematic literature analysis in a complementary way. Findings This article maps the CX literature by describing its intellectual structure in terms of three research domains (customer, organizational and technological), their corresponding most relevant research themes and topics. Moreover, this study develops a conceptual framework and research propositions to summarize and integrate the CX literature. This work recognizes technology as an important driver for the development of CX research. Lastly, this article provides future research opportunities for moving the field forward, considering an integrative view among domains. Originality/value This paper complements other reviews on CX by using a novel methodological approach (co-keyword and thematic analysis) that enables the identification and visualization of the CX intellectual structure. In addition, the study explores the increasing connection between technology and CX research, by raising evidence that technology, by continuously modifying services and consequently CX, has become a transversal component in the research field. These outcomes may be useful for academics and practitioners.

2021

Effect of Emission Penalty and Annual Interest Rate on Cogeneration of Electricity, Heat, and Hydrogen in Karachi: 3E Assessment and Sensitivity Analysis

Authors
Jahangiri, M; Mostafaeipour, A; Habib, HUR; Saghaei, H; Waqar, A;

Publication
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING

Abstract
Pakistan is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a semi-industrialized economy. It has been always an energy importer and dependent on fossil fuels. Great pressure is imposed on Pakistan’s national grid from the rise in fossil fuel costs, variations in the annual interest rate, and increased costs of greenhouse emissions. To meet the ever-increasing energy demand, the Government of Pakistan has decided to further harness wind and solar energies currently having a negligible share in Pakistan’s energy portfolio. Despite the importance of this issue, no study has been conducted so far on the cogeneration of power, heat, and hydrogen in Pakistan. Accordingly, this study is aimed at technical–economic–environmental sensitivity analysis of supplying electric and thermal loads of a residential building in Karachi by an off-grid wind-solar-fuel cell system. To this end, 4500000 possible cases were analyzed, simulated, and optimized with the HOMER software using 20-year average meteorological data from the NASA website. A sensitivity analysis was performed on this system for the first time in Pakistan. The other novelties are the use of dump loads for converting the surplus electricity into heat and also heat recovering in the fuel cells. The results showed the great potential of the station understudy for supplying the required power and heat by renewable energies. Hydrogen production was also affordable at every emission penalty price with an interest rate of less than 9%. Moreover, dump loads play a key role in supplying the thermal demand. Comparison of the wind turbine–solar cell–fuel cell–battery system with the wind turbine–solar cell–battery and solar cell–battery systems indicated that the internal rate of return and the payback period were, respectively, 9.39% and 11.4?years and 11.7% and 11?years. According to these results, it is recommend that Pakistani authorities promote the use of renewable energies through incentives and investment subsidies.

2021

Analogue Cosmology: Using techniques from nonlinear optics to study modified theories of gravity with non-minimal coupling between curvature and matter

Authors
Ferreira, TD; Novo, J; Bertolami, O; Silva, NA; Guerreiro, A;

Publication
NONLINEAR OPTICS AND APPLICATIONS XII

Abstract
The Theory of General Relativity is currently the most accepted model to describe gravity, and although many experiments and observations continue to validate it, recent astrophysical and cosmological observations require to include new forms of matter and energy (dark matter and dark energy), to be consistent. Modified theories of gravity with non-minimal coupling between curvature and matter are extensions of the Theory of General Relativity and have been proposed to address these shortcomings. Interestingly, matter at large scales behaves as a fluid and under certain approximations, the field equations can be approximated to a generalized Schrodinger-Newton system of equations. This model is largely found in the nonlinear optical systems, in particular to describe light propagating in nonlinear and nonlocal optical materials and also as a base model for the development of many optical analogues. Due to this, there are a wide variety of numerical methods developed to tackle this type of mathematical models, and that can be used to study these alternative gravity models. In this work, we explore the application of these numerical techniques based on GPGPU supercomputing, initially developed to study light propagating in nonlinear optical systems, to explore a particular non-minimal coupled gravity model. This model, in the nonrelativistic limit, modifies the hydrodynamic equations with the introduction of an attractive Yukawa potential and a repulsive one proportional to the matter density. We used the Schrodinger-Newton formalism to numerically study this model and, through the imaginary-time propagation method, we found stationary solutions that were sustained by the repulsive potential introduced by the non-minimal coupled model, even in the absence of a pressure term. We developed an analytical study in the Thomas-Fermi approximation and compared the predictions with numerical solutions. Finally, we explored how this gravity model may be emulated in the laboratory as an optical analogue.

2021

IndoorCare: Low-Cost Elderly Activity Monitoring System through Image Processing

Authors
Fuentes, D; Correia, L; Costa, N; Reis, A; Ribeiro, J; Rabadao, C; Barroso, J; Pereira, A;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
The Portuguese population is aging at an increasing rate, which introduces new problems, particularly in rural areas, where the population is small and widely spread throughout the territory. These people, mostly elderly, have low income and are often isolated and socially excluded. This work researches and proposes an affordable Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)-based solution to monitor the activities of elderly individuals, inside their homes, in a pervasive and non-intrusive way, while preserving their privacy. The solution uses a set of low-cost IoT sensor devices, computer vision algorithms and reasoning rules, to acquire data and recognize the activities performed by a subject inside a home. A conceptual architecture and a functional prototype were developed, the prototype being successfully tested in an environment similar to a real case scenario. The system and the underlying concept can be used as a building block for remote and distributed elderly care services, in which the elderly live autonomously in their homes, but have the attention of a caregiver when needed.

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