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Publications

2021

Carbon Policy as a Strategy to Jointly Address Climate Change, Prevent Wildfires and Biodiversity Loss: A Portugal Case Study

Authors
Pacheco, R; Claro, J;

Publication
International Conference on Environmental Science and Applications - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Environmental Science and Applications (ICESA'21)

Abstract

2021

Bringing Semantics to the Vineyard: An Approach on Deep Learning-Based Vine Trunk Detection

Authors
Aguiar, AS; Monteiro, NN; dos Santos, FN; Pires, EJS; Silva, D; Sousa, AJ; Boaventura Cunha, J;

Publication
AGRICULTURE-BASEL

Abstract
The development of robotic solutions in unstructured environments brings several challenges, mainly in developing safe and reliable navigation solutions. Agricultural environments are particularly unstructured and, therefore, challenging to the implementation of robotics. An example of this is the mountain vineyards, built-in steep slope hills, which are characterized by satellite signal blockage, terrain irregularities, harsh ground inclinations, and others. All of these factors impose the implementation of precise and reliable navigation algorithms, so that robots can operate safely. This work proposes the detection of semantic natural landmarks that are to be used in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithms. Thus, Deep Learning models were trained and deployed to detect vine trunks. As significant contributions, we made available a novel vine trunk dataset, called VineSet, which was constituted by more than 9000 images and respective annotations for each trunk. VineSet was used to train state-of-the-art Single Shot Multibox Detector models. Additionally, we deployed these models in an Edge-AI fashion and achieve high frame rate execution. Finally, an assisted annotation tool was proposed to make the process of dataset building easier and improve models incrementally. The experiments show that our trained models can detect trunks with an Average Precision up to 84.16% and our assisted annotation tool facilitates the annotation process, even in other areas of agriculture, such as orchards and forests. Additional experiments were performed, where the impact of the amount of training data and the comparison between using Transfer Learning and training from scratch were evaluated. In these cases, some theoretical assumptions were verified.

2021

Hands-free interaction in immersive virtual reality: A systematic review

Authors
Monteiro, P; Gonçalves, G; Coelho, H; Melo, M; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Abstract
Hands are the most important tool to interact with virtual environments, and they should be available to perform the most critical tasks. For example, a surgeon in VR should keep his/her hands on the instruments and be able to do secondary tasks without performing a disruptive event to the operative task. In this common scenario, one can observe that hands are not available for interaction. The goal of this systematic review is to survey the literature and identify which hands-free interfaces are used, the performed interaction tasks, what metrics are used for interface evaluation, and the results of such evaluations. From 79 studies that met the eligibility criteria, the voice is the most studied interface, followed by the eye and head gaze. Some novel interfaces were brain interfaces and face expressions. System control and selection represent most of the interaction tasks studied and most studies evaluate interfaces for usability. Despite the best interface depending on the task and study, the voice was found to be versatile and showed good results amongst the studies. More research is recommended to improve the practical use of the interfaces and to evaluate the interfaces more formally.

2021

Programming Exercises Interoperability: The Case of a Non-Picky Consumer

Authors
Queirós, R; Paiva, JC; Leal, JP;

Publication
SLATE

Abstract
Problem-solving is considered one of the most important skills to retain in the coming decades for building a modern and proactive society. In this realm, computer programming learning is vital to enrich those skills. Practicing in this area boils down to solve programming exercises. In order to foster this practice, it is necessary to provide students with the best of the breed automated tools and a good set of exercises in a fair quantity covering the curricula of a typical programming course. Despite the increasing appearance of automated tools such as program evaluators, gamification engines and sophisticated web environments, access to exercises remains problematic. In fact, although the existence of several code repositories (most for feed computer programming contests), the majority of them store the exercises in proprietary formats and without any access facilities hindering their use. This leaves no other option to teachers but to manually create programming exercises which is time-consuming and error prone, or simply, reuse the same exercises, from previous years, which is considered as a detrimental and limiting approach to enhance multi-faceted and creative programmers. The article surveys the current interoperability efforts on programming exercises, more precisely, in terms of serialization formats and communication protocols. This study will sustain the selection of an API to feed a code playground called LearnJS with random programming exercises.

2021

THE DARK SIDE OF A B2B CO-CREATION RELATIONSHIP IN THE FRONT END OF INNOVATION: A GENERATIVE REVIEW

Authors
Rodrigues, SR; Pinto Ferreira, JJ;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Abstract
This study aims to conceptualise the risks of a co-creation relationship between providers and customers in the front end of innovation (FEI). The existing literature on the topic of the interactions between customers and providers is vast but mostly reflects the vision of each respective field of science addressing specific issues and dynamics. This review paper combines integrative and generative approaches (Post et al., 2020). The narrative overview methodology (Green et al., 2006) fits the purpose to integrate the contributions of scholars from different areas and with distinct perspectives. The authors present a comprehensive view of the complex and, sometimes, conflictual customer-provider relationship in a business-to-business (B2B) context applied to the FEI. The review, mostly focused in the service industry, included the identification of inconsistencies and poorly explained phenomena. This work contributes decisively to the innovation, management and organisation literature, advancing a model of the projected risks of the specific customer-provider relationship in the FEI phase.

2021

Capacid@de Digital: Tamega e Sousa Volunteer Network for Digital Training

Authors
Carvalho, M; Oliveira, O; Freitas, R; Pereira, C; Duarte, N;

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

Abstract
We are living in a digital age, which is characterized by an accelerated technological transformation. In this context, digital inequalities, which are often caused by the population's lack of technological knowledge, are increasingly accentuated and consequently, there is a growing need for training and digital inclusion of the population. This paper presents the initiative Capacid@de Digital: Tamega e Sousa Volunteer Network for Digital Training, proposed by School of Management and Technology of the Polytechnic of Porto. This initiative aims to digitally train the active and non-active population of Tamega and Sousa region, providing them digital skills that allow the execution of digital tasks necessary for the daily life of any citizen. In addition, the methodology used as basis for structuring this project is described.

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