Abstract
A significant concern that is widely discussed in the field of Higher Education is declining student participation. In several institutions, attendance is optional, allowing students to attend lectures at their convenience. This study proposes the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Gamification to improve student engagement and attendance rates. The initiative combines advanced technological strategies with conventional educational methodologies to enhance the lecture experience. The initiative is significant as formal lectures often witness dwindling student interest and frequent absenteeism, undermining the educational process and student's future career prospects. This combination has the potential to revolutionise Higher Education by providing a more interactive and engaging learning experience. While gamification has positively impacted learning in various contexts, integration with Artificial Intelligence is a game-changer, paving the way for a modernised educational experience. This innovative exploration of the AI-gamification blend sets the stage for future research and the implementation of updated academic strategies, ultimately addressing student engagement and attendance. This position paper presents the bases and foundations for understanding the problem of student attendance and engagement and the role of AI and gamification in Higher Education in alleviating it.;Uma inquietação relevante e extensamente discutida no domínio do Ensino Superior é a diminuição da participação dos estudantes. Em diversas instituições, a assiduidade é facultativa, permitindo aos estudantes a frequência às aulas segundo a sua disponibilidade. Este estudo propõe a integração da Inteligência Artificial e da Gamification como meios para melhorar o envolvimento e as taxas de assiduidade dos estudantes. A iniciativa em causa articula estratégias tecnologicamente avançadas com metodologias educativas convencionais no intuito de enriquecer a experiência de ensino. Tal iniciativa assume importância dada à constante diminuição do interesse dos estudantes e a assiduidade irregular nas aulas formais, fatores que afetam negativamente o processo de ensino e as perspetivas de carreira dos estudantes. Esta combinação ostenta o potencial de revolucionar o Ensino Superior, proporcionando uma experiência de aprendizagem mais interativa e envolvente. Embora a Gamification já tenha impactado positivamente o processo de aprendizagem em diversos contextos, a sua integração com a Inteligência Artificial surge como um elemento transformador, abrindo caminho para uma experiência educacional modernizada. Esta investigação inovadora que combina a IA e Gamification prepara as bases para investigações futuras e a implementação de estratégias académicas aprimoradas, concentrando-se principalmente no envolvimento e na assiduidade dos estudantes. Este artigo de posicionamento apresenta as bases e os fundamentos necessários para a compreensão do problema da frequência e envolvimento dos estudantes no Ensino Superior, assim como o papel da IA e da Gamification na sua mitigação.

Abstract
The paper discusses an ongoing project that aims to enhance the UX of teachers while using e-learning systems. Specifically, the project focuses on developing the teacher’s user interface (UI) for Agni, a web-based code playground for learning JavaScript. The goal is to design an intuitive UI with valuable features that will encourage more teachers to use the system. To achieve this goal, the paper explores the use of a headless Content Management System (CMS) called Strapi. The primary research question the paper seeks to answer is whether a headless CMS, specifically Strapi, can provide a good UX to teachers. A usability evaluation of the built-in Strapi UI for content creation and management reveals it to be generally consistent and user-friendly but challenging and unintuitive to create courses with programming exercises. As a result, the decision was made to develop a new teacher’s UI based on the existing Agni UI for students in an editable version. Once the development is complete, a new usability evaluation of the fully developed teacher’s UI will be conducted with the Strapi UI evaluation as a baseline for comparison.

Abstract
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need to invest in nursing practice environments and health institutions were led to implement several changes. In this sense, this study aimed to analyze the impact of the changes that occurred in nursing practice environments between the first and fourth critical periods of the pandemic.MethodsQuantitative, observational study, conducted in a University Hospital, with the participation of 713 registered nurses. Data were collected through a questionnaire with sociodemographic and professional characterization and the Scale for the Environments Evaluation of Professional Nursing Practice, applied at two different points in time: from 1 to 30 June 2020 and from 15 August to 15 September 2021. Data were processed using descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsOverall, the pandemic had a positive impact on nursing practice environments. However, the Process component remained favourable to quality of care, while the Structure and Outcome components only moderately favourable. Nurses working in Medicine Department services showed lower scores in several dimensions of the Structure, Process and Outcome components. On the other hand, nurses working in areas caring for patients with COVID-19 showed higher scores in several dimensions of the Structure, Process and Outcome components.ConclusionsThe pandemic had a positive impact on various dimensions of nursing practice environments, which denotes that regardless of the adversities and moments of crisis that may arise, investment in work environments will have positive repercussions.However, more investment is needed in Medicine Department services, which have historically been characterised by high workloads and structural conditions that make it difficult to promote positive and sustainable workplaces.

Abstract
Globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased number of consumers using e-commerce services. This trend has been raising the demand for logistic activities, especially on the last-mile. This part of the supply chain is expensive and ineffective, and a source of negative externalities such as air and noise pollution, traffic congestion and accidents. The anticipation of innovative solutions can help to mitigate these costs. In this context, this paper provides a systematic literature review of the existing literature regarding emerging solutions for last-mile parcel delivery. For guiding the development of more sustainable last-mile parcel distribution, and to provide some insights for future research, we identified and summarized the emerging concepts within this field domain. The results show that innovative solutions have been emerging at different levels: (i) definition of new crowdsourcing-based models, (ii) use of new types of vehicles, and (iii) development of optimization systems based on data collection and the combination of different technologies. Moreover, recent studies show that new strategies are being developed focusing on using consumers as active actors of delivery; non-road and autonomous vehicles are promising concepts in last-mile operations; and different logistic operations, such as vehicle routing, are being optimized with data analytics, cloud technology and mobile apps.

Abstract
The increasing world population, growing need for agricultural products, and labour shortages have driven the growth of robotics in agriculture. Tasks such as fruit harvesting require extensive hours of work during harvest periods and can be physically exhausting. Autonomous robots bring more efficiency to agricultural tasks with the possibility of working continuously. This paper proposes a stackable 3 DoF SCARA manipulator for tomato harvesting. The manipulator uses a custom electronic circuit to control DC motors with an endless gear at each joint and uses a camera and a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) for fruit detection. Cascaded PID controllers are used to control the joints with magnetic encoders for rotational feedback, and a time-of-flight sensor for prismatic movement feedback. Tomatoes are detected using an algorithm that finds regions of interest with the red colour present and sends these regions of interest to an image classifier that evaluates whether or not a tomato is present. With this, the system calculates the position of the tomato using stereo vision obtained from a monocular camera combined with the prismatic movement of the manipulator. As a result, the manipulator was able to position itself very close to the target in less than 3 seconds, where an end-effector could adjust its position for the picking.

Abstract
The growing number of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) brings the need of more fast charging stations across cities and highway stops. This charging stations toned to be connected to the electrical grid via existent facilities, causing constraints such as power availability. This study brings an approach for the planning and operation of such energy hubs by coping with this challenge by deploying a Battery-based Energy Storage System (BESS). With the BESS integration, it is expected to minimize utilization and overall energy costs, preventing infrastructure upgrades, and enhancing the integration of renewable energy resources. This approach sizes a stationary energy storage system with lithium-ion technology batteries through a co-optimization of the planning and operation stages, integrated in an electrical installation that will implement fast charging stations. This sizing is a result of an optimization based on the interior point algorithm, where the objective is to minimize the costs of maintenance, operation, and installation of a BESS, while properly modelling the different resources such as the BESS, the charging station and EV charging and PV generation. © 2023, Universidade do Porto - Faculdade de Engenharia. All rights reserved.