ESTCB - Escola Superior de Tecnologia
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- 3D printing online learning environements: multiple approaches towards self-learning of engineering design studentsPublication . Pikkarainen, Ari; Gaspar, MarceloThis paper presents an exploratory study conducted at two Higher Education Engineering Schools, namely in the Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and in the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco (Portugal), with the aim of constructing digital learning environments that promote increasing learning autonomy to students working with 3D printing technologies in engineering design. Based on pilot blended learning experiences carried-out in both schools, new instructional design solutions are proposed and discussed, aiming at a widespread use of such digital platforms not only for blended and online learning processes in engineering schools, but also as Massive Open Online Courses open to wider communities interested in such technologies.
- 7as Jornadas de Segurança aos Incêndios Urbanos.; 2as Jornadas de Proteção CivilPublication . Santos, C.C.; Rodrigues, João Paulo7as Jornadas de Segurança aos Incêndios Urbanos.; 2as Jornadas de Proteção Civil
- Accept mobile: a mobile tool for the SINMETRO accept information systemPublication . Caldeira, J.M.L.P.; Dias, Edgar; Paulo, Bruno; Neves, Paulo AlexandreIncreasing demand of mobile applications for on-site data acquisition pushes the development of flexible and easy to use mobile tools, with great advantages over the traditional computer-based approaches. The Accept System from SINMETRO allows data gathering for quality control, in the form of Inspection sheets. Such tool allows quality assurance by monitoring some samples of a given material, for instance milk, wine, and even maintenance management. This paper presents a mobile application in the Accept System that allows a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device to perform data gathering based on XML Inspection templates. Using .NET Compact Framework through C#, and database the technologies SQL Server and SQL Server CE, we developed Accept Mobile. Accept Mobile uses the Remote Data Access (RDA) mechanism to send data over to the server through a synchronization service, while also providing the needed support for disconnected operation. We prove that the mobile application is very convenient and provides enough functionality for the user to dismiss the portable computer, although the main application was never developed with mobility concerns in mind.
- Adaptação de espaços públicos a pessoas com mobilidade condicionada: Idanha-a-NovaPublication . Nunes, Telma Catarina Gonçalves; Alves, Rui Manuel AmaroDurante muitos anos a expansão das cidades deu principal importância aos meios de transporte, esquecendo ou remetendo para segundo plano os peões, confrontando-se hoje com inúmeras barreiras nas deslocações que efetuam. Foi necessário esperar décadas para que se começasse a ter consciência dos resultados negativos que estas estratégias de urbanização representavam na população, sendo visível na vila de Idanha-a-Nova a alargada existência de barreiras arquitetónicas e urbanísticas, quer em malhas urbanas antigas quer nas malhas urbanas de construção mais recente. Hoje em dia assistimos a uma alteração de mentalidades, estando o conceito de acessibilidade e mobilidade para todos na ordem do dia dos municípios, sendo vários os planos destinados à eliminação ou correção de diversas barreiras existentes. Mesmo assim, a adaptação dos espaços públicos para estes cidadãos tem sido realizada de uma maneira muito lenta, sentindo ainda os cidadãos com mobilidade condicionada dificuldades em percorrer os espaços que a eles são destinados. O presente trabalho de mestrado procura avaliar num inquérito realizado junto da população de um bairro envelhecido na vila de Idanha-a-Nova, as deslocações mais frequentes aos serviços e equipamentos existentes, registando desde modo o grau de dificuldade no seu percurso e o grau de dificuldade em ultrapassar os obstáculos encontrados nas suas deslocações. Com os resultados obtidos nas respostas dos inquiridos foram traçados itinerários de modo a percorrer o maior número destes equipamentos e serviços, sendo estes avaliados através de uma metodologia realizada para as condições de acessibilidade existente, a nível de obstáculos, percursos acessíveis e inclinação destes percursos. A partir da avaliação das condições de acessibilidade foram propostas algumas soluções de melhoria de modo a tornar os itinerários estudados mais acessíveis à população com dificuldades de deslocação e mobilidade condicionada.
- Adapting portuguese architecture to former african colonies climate conditionsPublication . Ferreira, Ana Vaz; Silva, J.A. Mendes daThe Portuguese architecture is borderless due to the colonialism period. Many African countries can testify this influence and the cities still sprawling around remaining old buildings. These constructions are characterized by using local resources and adapting Portuguese architecture to the climatic characteristics and answering local natural hazards. The work developed presents a systematic approach about the constructive changes, identifying the solutions adopted for answering climatic demands. The passive solar systems used were categorized and some examples were selected according to examples found in African cities with Portuguese influence as Beira (Mozambique), Lubango, Namibe and Luanda (Angola) and Praia (Cape Verde). This analysis encompasses strategies to improve thermal behavior of buildings, as ventilation trough the analysis of ventilated roofs or windows geometry, shadowing devices as large eaves, brises and second facades, among other issues. The local construction was also analyzed in order to find out traditional techniques for cooling buildings in a natural way.
- Adaptive error control coding for a mobile broadband systemPublication . Torres, Paulo; Caseiro, Carlos; Gusmão, AntónioThe Mobile Broadband System (MBS) under research in Europoe aims at offering to mobile users an ATM-based radio access to the future integrated broadband communications network. It is well known that a high-quality transmission channel can be assumed within the fixed broadband network; however, this is far from being expected in the radio links of the future mobile system. This paper is concerned with the design of an error control coding scheme for a first stage of MBS implementation. The proposed scheme is a very flexible, hybrid one, which is based on the concatenation of a convolutional inner code, and a Reed-Solomon outer code, and combines ARQ and FEC features in an adaptive manner, under an implicit evaluation of the channel state. It is powerful enough to cope with poor channel conditions and is compatible with both ATM characteristics and those of a wide range of services (including required BER below lo-' with a delay of a few ms). A set of simulation results illustrates the advantages of the proposed error control coding scheme.
- Adição de material reciclado - avaliação de desempenho do betão e do solo-cimentoPublication . Oliveira, Bruno Miguel Ribeiro de; Carronda, Sofia Isabel Batista Moreno; Santos, C.C.Os efeitos atuais do desenvolvimento sustentável, no setor da construção civil, incluem o desenvolvimento de tecnologias para o aproveitamento de materiais de rejeição industriais como substitutos de agregados ou substitutos de aglomerantes tanto em misturas de argamassas como em misturas de betão. A indústria de papel e celulose, por meio do processo Kraft, gera grandes quantidades de resíduos, um desses resíduos é as lamas da lixívia verde (provenientes da valorização da lixívia de cozimento), conhecido como dregs. Para minimizar os impactos ambientais e atender às exigências económicas, estão a ser desenvolvidos estudos para avaliar a viabilidade do aproveitamento destes resíduos em produtos aplicados na construção civil. Dentro deste esforço, o presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar os resultados de uma possível integração dos dregs no betão e na mistura solo-cimento. Foram realizados ensaios para caracterizar uma amostra de betão e uma amostra de mistura de solo-cimento. Foi estudado um betão de referência e um betão onde o cimento foi substituído por 10% de dregs. Foi, do mesmo modo, feita em laboratório uma mistura de solo, designada solo-cimento, constituída por 70% de areia, 30% de dregs e 15% de cimento. Neste caso foi elaborado um ensaio à compressão e uma análise visual de carotes retirados de uma viga.
- Advanced optical modulation and format conversionPublication . Dionísio, Rogério Pais; Teixeira, António; Nogueira, RogérioOver the years, the increased search and exchange of information lead to an increase of traffic intensity in todays optical communication networks. Coherent communications, using the amplitude and phase of the signal, reappears as one of the transmission techniques to increase the spectral efficiency and throughput of optical channels. In this context, this paper present a survey on format conversion of modulated signals using MZI- SOAs, based exclusively on all-optical techniques through wavelength conversion. We also present two proposal using all-optical techniques: One for the conversion of amplitude modulation signals to a continuous phase modulation format, and another technique for the conversion of OOK signals to QPSK and QAM signals. Both approaches are experimentally validated.
- Affordable LTE network benchmarking based on transport fleetsPublication . Dionísio, Rogério Pais; Marques, Paulo; Marques, Hugo; Alves, Tiago Ferreira; Pereira, Luis Miguel Cardoso; Silva, Fernando; Ribeiro, Jorge Miguel AfonsoTo gain competitive advantage in today’s mobile market, cellular network testing, monitoring and improving customer experience is crucial. Today independent benchmarking companies are hired by mobile operators to run drive tests in a certain geographical areas. The high cost for running these tests results in a low frequency of execution, typically this benchmarking is executed no more than two or three times per year, which is not sufficient to follow the dynamics of an LTE network in a dense urban area. The majority of the drive testing costs come from the car, driver, and the in-car technician. Another approach is to take advantage of existing transportation companies to carry on network benchmarking services to Mobile Network Operators. Unattended measurement nodes can be deployed in existing transportation fleets without the need for dedicated field personnel, reducing the cost of testing up to 70%. This demo uses nodes placed in buses, available in several cities in Europe, to create and validate an automatic LTE network benchmark. The tool allows an easy comparative analyses of mobile network quality of Service and quality of experience parameters based on the operators raw data.
- Algae in acid mine drainage and relationships with pollutants in a degraded mining ecosystemPublication . Gomes, Patrícia; Valente, Teresa; Albuquerque, M.T.D.; Henriques, Renato; Flor-Arnau, Núria; Pamplona, Jorge; Macías, FelipeAcid mine drainage represents an extreme environment with high concentrations of potentially toxic elements and low pH values. These aquatic habitats are characterised by harsh conditions for biota, being dominated by acidophilic organisms. The study site, São Domingos mine, located in one of the largest metallogenetic provinces in the world, the Iberian Pyrite Belt, was closed without preventive measures. To identify the algae species and understand the relationships with abiotic parameters of the ecosystem, water and biological material were collected and analysed. Digital terrain models were obtained with an unmanned aerial vehicle for geomorphological and hydrologic characterisation of the mine degraded landscape. The results show two types of algal colours that seem to represent different degrees of photosynthetic activity. Optical and scanning electron microscopy revealed 14 taxa at the genus level, divided into eight classes. The genus Mougeotia is the most abundant multicellular algae. With respect to unicellular algae, diatoms are ubiquitous and abundant. Abiotic analyses expose typical features of acid mine drainage and support an inverse relationship between chemical contamination and biological diversity. Factorial correspondence analysis indicates three groups of attributes and samples by their relationship with specific toxic elements. This analysis also suggests a close association between Spirogyra and Pb, together composing a structurally simple ecosystem. The highest contamination in the river system is related to the hydrologic patterns obtained from photogrammetric products, such as the digital surface model and flow map accumulation, indicating the input of leachates from the section having the finest sulfide-rich wastes. Information about the algae community and their association with flow patterns of toxic elements is a relevant tool from a biomonitoring perspective.