Abstract

Abstract
Virtual communities and their benefits have been widely exploited to support patients, caregivers, families, and healthcare providers. The complexity of the social organization evolved the concept of virtual community to social networks, exploring the establishment of ties and relations between people. These technological platforms provide a way to keep up with one's connections network, through a set of communication and interaction tools. Games, as social interactive technologies, have great potential, ensuring a supportive community and thereby reducing social isolation. Serious social health games bring forward several research challenges. This article examines the potential benefits of the triad "health-serious games-social networks'' and discusses some research challenges and opportunities of the liaison of serious health games and social networks.

Abstract
People with vision disabilities deal with serious limitations while moving around. Common navigation systems do not fully address the needs of blind people, which can only be attended with an adapted product. Blavigator is a navigation system for the blind, currently being developed at the University of Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro. Blavigator proposes a solution to enhance mobility, finding routes and providing contextual information about points of interest in user's surroundings, guiding him to a desired destination. In this paper is presented the navigation module of Blavigator that ensures a continuous feed of information with sufficient detail allowing the blind user to reach the desired destination successfully. A pilot test with 5 blindfolded persons was conducted to test the navigation module feasibility and do some performance analysis. The results are promising and provide evidence that the navigation module helps blind people to successfully reach the desired destination.

Abstract
At the present time virtual communities are overspread in the web, providing users a cyber-place to share common purposes and interact with other users around the world. Interaction in these environments grapple with new challenges concerning to provide their users better tools to interact and fulfil their goals. In this context we propose a model to create regulated interaction environments based on the theatre metaphor: the Social Theatres. A dynamic multi-layer software architecture (ASTeaS) was developed to support this web-based interaction model, allowing easy construction of such social interaction spaces and adaptation to users' devices requirements. In this paper we discuss the usage of interaction regulation in virtual environments supported by the Social Theatres model and evaluate some aspects of the users interaction in two different case study scenarios.

Abstract

Abstract
The rapid proliferation of human population and the growth of consumption leaded to an increase of hazardous waste. This becomes a worldwide ecological and environmental challenge. According to last available statistics the estimated global municipal solid waste reached 2.02 billion tons. Unfortunately there is not only solid waste: vegetable oil, one kind of liquid waste, used in food manufacturing, is responsible for serious contamination of water resources. Its collection is profitable by recycling into biodiesel and is already regulated in some countries. However it faces several logistic issues. Major issues are related to collection delays, which lead to oil giveaway, and reduced collection [1,2]. This paper proposes a solution to some of these logistic problems introducing a system to manage cooking oil collection in order to increase collection profits. The developed system follows a defined oil collection plan in order to optimize collection routes, introducing a sensor network that triggers collection events to a central system overcoming the current collection delays and wastes. The system is being tested in a real scenario with a Portuguese cooking oil collection company.