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Publicações

2020

Experimenting with Liveness in Cloud Infrastructure Management

Autores
Lourenco, P; Dias, JP; Aguiar, A; Ferreira, HS; Restivo, A;

Publicação
EVALUATION OF NOVEL APPROACHES TO SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Abstract
Cloud computing has been playing a significant role in the provisioning of services over the Internet since its birth. However, developers still face several challenges limiting its full potential. The difficulties are mostly due to the large, ever-growing, and ever-changing catalog of services offered by cloud providers. As a consequence, developers must deal with different cloud services in their systems; each managed almost individually and continually growing in complexity. This heterogeneity may limit the view developers have over their system architectures and make the task of managing these resources more complex. This work explores the use of liveness as a way to shorten the feedback loop between developers and their systems in an interactive and immersive way, as they develop and integrate cloud-based systems. The designed approach allows real-time visualization of cloud infrastructures using a visual city metaphor. To assert the viability of this approach, the authors conceived a proof-of-concept and carried on experiments with developers to assess its feasibility.

2020

Promoting Healthy Food Habits Through an mHealth Application

Autores
Carvalho, I; Almeida, F;

Publicação
Advances in Medical Technologies and Clinical Practice - Mobile Devices and Smart Gadgets in Medical Sciences

Abstract
MHealth involves the provision of health products, services, and information through mobile and wireless technologies. Companies and institutions in the healthcare sector are progressively proposing innovative mhealth solutions that simultaneously reduce costs and improve the quality of life of citizens. In this chapter, a mobile app is proposed to promote healthy food habits through better management of the food each person has at home. This app intends to reduce food waste and promotes the development of good food practices based on the nutritional value of each recipe and the indication of potential allergies to ingredients. The development of the app was based on the best practices of Mobile UX, which is fundamental to offer intuitive interaction and rapid learning for the user. Furthermore, other factors also relevant in the context of mobile apps were considered in the development, namely usability, data backup, performance, security, scalability, and interoperability.

2020

MViDO: A High Performance Monocular Vision-Based System for Docking A Hovering AUV

Autores
Figueiredo, AB; Matos, AC;

Publicação
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL

Abstract
This paper presents a high performance (low computationally demanding) monocular vision-based system for a hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in the context of autonomous docking process-MViDO system: Monocular Vision-based Docking Operation aid. The MViDO consists of three sub-modules: a pose estimator, a tracker and a guidance sub-module. The system is based on a single camera and a three spherical color markers target that signal the docking station. The MViDO system allows the pose estimation of the three color markers even in situations of temporary occlusions, being also a system that rejects outliers and false detections. This paper also describes the design and implementation of the MViDO guidance module for the docking manoeuvres. We address the problem of driving the AUV to a docking station with the help of the visual markers detected by the on-board camera, and show that by adequately choosing the references for the linear degrees of freedom of the AUV, the AUV is conducted to the dock while keeping those markers in the field of view of the on-board camera. The main concepts behind the MViDO are provided and a complete characterization of the developed system is presented from the formal and experimental point of view. To test and evaluate the MViDO detector and pose an estimator module, we created a ground truth setup. To test and evaluate the tracker module we used the MARES AUV and the designed target in a four-meter tank. The performance of the proposed guidance law was tested on simulink/Matlab.

2020

Digital Accessibility of Online Educational Platforms: Identifying Barriers for Blind Student's Interaction

Autores
Lisboa, I; Barroso, J; Rocha, T;

Publicação
Innovative Technologies and Learning - Third International Conference, ICITL 2020, Porto, Portugal, November 23-25, 2020, Proceedings

Abstract
e-Learning promotes asynchronous and synchronous access to education, free from geographical barriers, allowing a great number of people, that otherwise could not study, continue their academic life. Access, however, should be equally granted for All, not limited to the instrumental level, providing a dynamic model that meets the needs of the student user. e-Learning platforms have potential to both enhance learning quality and increase education access as long as is considered user’s different needs. In this paper, we present the theoretical background about the current state of accessibility of e-Learning educational platforms and contents, by analyzing the Brazilian online educational context. This study intends to identify barriers and possible tools to enhance user experience for Blind students, and also present a UX methodology to reach that goal. For the latter, we propose a methodology based on obtaining qualitative and quantitative data to be obtained from online questionnaires. The ultimate goal is to make a global UX evaluation in order to present a complete perspective, on the actual Blind student’s experience when interacting with the digital educational contents and platforms in specifics Brazilian universities digital platforms. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

2020

Job Scheduling in Fog Paradigm - A Proposal of Context-aware Task Scheduling Algorithms

Autores
Barros, C; Rocio, V; Sousa, A; Paredes, H;

Publicação
2020 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS AND INNOVATION (ICITSI)

Abstract
According to the author's knowledge task scheduling in fog paradigm is highly complex and in the literature there are still few studies on it. In the cloud architecture, it is widely studied and in many researches, it is approached from the perspective of service providers. Trying to bring innovative contributions in these areas, in this paper, we propose a solution to the context-aware task-scheduling problem for fog paradigm. In our proposal, different context parameters are normalized through Min Max normalization, requisition priorities are defined through the application of the Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) technique and scheduling is performed using Multi-Objective Non-Linear Programming Optimization (MONLIP) technique.

2020

Functional insight into the glycosomal peroxiredoxin of Leishmania

Autores
Castro, H; Rocha, MI; Silva, R; Oliveira, F; Gomes Alves, AG; Cruz, T; Duarte, M; Tomas, AM;

Publicação
ACTA TROPICA

Abstract
Glycosomes of trypanosomatids are peroxisome-like organelles comprising unique metabolic features, among which the lack of the hallmark peroxisomal enzyme catalase. The absence of this highly efficient peroxidase from glycosomes is presumably compensated by other antioxidants, peroxidases of the peroxiredoxin (PRX) family being the most promising candidates for this function. Here, we follow on this premise and investigate the product of a Leishmania infantum gene coding for a putative glycosomal PRX (LigPRX). First, we demonstrate that LigPRX localizes to glycosomes, resorting to indirect immunofluorescence analysis. Second, we prove that purified recombinant LigPRX is an active peroxidase in vitro. Third, we generate viable LigPRX-depleted L. infantum promastigotes by classical homologous recombination. Surprisingly, phenotypic analysis of these knockout parasites revealed that promastigote survival, replication, and protection from oxidative and nitrosative insults can proceed normally in the absence of LigPRX. Noticeably, we also witness that LigPRX-depleted parasites can infect and thrive in mice to the same extent as wild type parasites. Overall, by disclosing the dispensable character of the glycosomal peroxiredoxin in L. infantum, this work excludes this enzyme from being a key component of the glycosomal hydroperoxide metabolism and contemplates alternative players for this function.

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