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- Teaching agile software engineering practices using scrum and a low-code development platform: a case studyPublication . Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Passão, PedroFollowing the recent trends in software engineering regarding the growing adoption of agile methodologies and low-code development platforms, and considering the results of surveys, we carried out on students, alumni and some IT companies, we adapted the software engineering teaching of a computer engineering course to the needs and new trends of the IT industry. The Scrum methodology and the OutSystems low-code development platform were used in a project-based learning approach for teaching agile software engineering practices. This approach was complemented with the presentation and discussion of several topics during the theoretical classes, lectures given by professionals from IT companies and study visits to an IT company that uses agile methodologies and low-code platforms. This approach aims to enhance the technical skills, namely development skills on a widely used low-code platform and other software engineering skills, but also to reinforce some non-technical skills of students like teamwork and communication, today highly valued by IT companies. The first results are quite positive.
- Mobile applications for accessible tourism: overview, challenges and a proposed platformPublication . Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Silva, Arlindo F.; Barbosa, Fernando Sérgio; Silva, Ana Paula; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.In the Travel & Tourism sector, mobile applications could do much more than simply provide information about specific locations or recommend places and itineraries based on the user location. They could leverage a wide range of technologies to be aware of the interests and specific needs of disabled tourists, providing them with appropriate and tailored information. This information should be presented using appropriate interaction mechanisms, able to help this specific, but large, group of the population in their everyday tourist activities, thus contributing to even more accessible tourism and travel activities. We present an overview of mobile applications that, in some perspective, may be used to support people with disabilities in their tourist activities. This overview allows us to explore the key challenges involved and some available alternatives, as well as to identify their positive aspects. However, it also underlines some issues that could be addressed more carefully and extensively in the application ecosystem. We also present some preliminary recommendations for a collaborative and personalized system framework to support people with disabilities in their tourist and travel activities. Ongoing work on a first prototype has already given us valuable insights into the identified challenges and we expect it to be a major step towards a more formal specification of our platform, as well as its development and test.
- Web application to help students and tutors in engineering courses: a case studyPublication . André, Gonçalo; Costa, Mónica; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Silva, Carlos; Tavares, AdrianoThe present paper describes the development of an application in a Computer Engineering course using open source software tools. The main goal is the implementation of an educational system to improve the interface between students and teachers, as well as to serve as a mean of communication and events spreading related to computing to all members of the academic community where it is installed. In a first stage the system was built and implemented in one educational Institution but it is now improved based on the collaboration of teaching staff, of other Portuguese Engineering Department, allied to computer Engineering students skills and motivation. The architecture, main features, results and future work of the developed system are reported through the sections of this paper.
- A strategy for facing new employability trends using a low-code development platformPublication . Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Araújo, RicardoThere is currently a high demand for professionals with digital skills in the areas of Information and Communication Technologies. As such, in future this trend is expected to increase. Higher education institutions are unable to train adequate numbers of qualified people to respond to employers' requests. In other areas, it is expected that increasing computerization and automation will have a significant impact on reducing certain types of jobs, which highlights the need and importance for many workers to develop new digital skills in order to be better prepared to face future challenges. It also seems clear that many of the needs may be met by people who, while not having a higher education in ICT fields, such as that taught in higher education institutions, these can be suppressed by people with specific training which is more focused on a particular technology or focused on certain development niches. In this context, low-code development platforms can play an important role in training or retraining people from areas with lower market demand for ICT areas. Their characteristics and potential make them suitable for technicians with higher qualifications in other areas, and other professionals, to acquire new skills through retraining or supplementing / recycling pre-acquired basic knowledge that may become productive labour in the IT world. In this paper we describe a strategy, and several case studies, where a low-code development platform is used to reskill STEM professionals and/or professionals who, having basic IT knowledge are in precarious activities, to perform ICT professional activity. This strategy not only contributes to the needs of IT professionals but also enables many professionals to make timely retraining into areas of greater competitiveness, greater job stability and better working conditions. Throughout the paper, we present case studies that are part of this strategy and that have had positive results. These case studies include Enterprise-Higher Education collaborative training, reskilling for unemployed people with higher education in other areas, and training for those who are active, working in areas where labour needs are likely to decrease in the mid-term. The paper also identifies the benefits and contributions resulting from the use of the OutSystems low-code platform to implement this strategy.
- Guia autónomo e personalizado para apoio ao turismoPublication . Cardoso, João Ricardo Cristóvão; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.O número de aplicações móveis disponíveis para apoiar o utilizador nas suas atividades turísticas tem vindo a aumentar nos últimos anos. Muitas dessas aplicações apresentam eventos turísticos com base na localização do utilizador e informação detalhada sobre os eventos. É importante que estas aplicações possam oferecer ao utilizador uma experiência personalizada e eventos que sejam relevantes para si, com base na sua localização, perfil, histórico de interesses, experiências e tempo disponível. Neste trabalho é apresentada uma aplicação para apoio ao turismo, a qual permite ao utilizador ter conhecimento de eventos e percursos que incluem vários eventos/atividades, saber que utilizadores pretendem participar em cada evento e interagir com outros utilizadores com interesse nos mesmos eventos. Para a recomendação dos eventos a mostrar ao utilizador a aplicação tem em consideração os interesses, a disponibilidade e o histórico de atividades do utilizador, o que permite uma informação mais personalizada e contextualizada.
- Integrating medical patient data with family trees to improve the quality of informationPublication . Sousa, Eliana; Jesus, Tiago; Neves, Lina; Costa, Mónica; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Correia, Ricardo CruzThe way patient information is presented has been proven to have an important impact on patient care. This paper presents a software component to be integrated in a virtual patient record used in a Portuguese hospital. This component supports genetic oncology consultations and aims to help the physician needs to visualize the patient's family tree in order to diagnose hereditary cancers in both patient and patient descendants. This system allows the physician to view relevant medical information of the elements of the family of a given patient, add new tests, as well as record new cancer situations that occur in any member of the patient’s family. Besides the graphical display of the patients’ family tree, the system also allows to differentiate between different groups of cancer by using symbols and colours, register new cancer occurrences within that family network, as well as information related to tests performed by them.
- PoPu-Data: a multilayered, simultaneously collected lying position datasetPublication . Fonseca, Luís Filipe Rodrigues; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Santos, Adriana; Dionísio, Rogério Pais; Amini, Mohammad; Silva, Arlindo F.; Heravi, Ahmad Reza; Sheikholeslami, Davood Fanaei; Fidalgo, Filipe; Rodrigues, Francisco; Santos, Osvaldo; Coelho, Patrícia; Aemmi, Seyyed SajjadThis study presents a dataset containing three layers of data that are useful for body position classification and all uses related to it. The PoPu dataset contains simultaneously collected data from two different sensor sheets—one placed over and one placed under a mattress; furthermore, a segmentation data layer was added where different body parts are identified using the pressure data from the sensors over the mattress. The data included were gathered from 60 healthy volunteers distributed among the different gathered characteristics: namely sex, weight, and height. This dataset can be used for position classification, assessing the viability of sensors placed under a mattress, and in applications regarding bedded or lying people or sleep related disorders.
- Free software as tool for students of computer engineering courses: a case studyPublication . André, Gonçalo; Costa, Mónica; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Lopes, EuricoFree software has been recognized for many as a differentiated culture of development and use of software that can be strategically and cause economic impact. One of the basic aspects for the success of this paradigm is the capacity of professionals to be able to absorb and to spread the culture of the free software of ample form. In this mission, and several others, the University must assume its role of generation and diffusion of new knowledge, thus contributing for the propagation of the culture of free software development. It was based on this idea that the work that we will present on the present article as appeared. Thus, based on a partnership with a commercial company, the idea of to build a project based on three components: a software application; a base philosophy (use of free software); a goal (that the pupils acquire in the end of its project know how with applicability in "the real" world outside of the Education Institution).
- Recycle made easy: a prototype to support recycling activitiesPublication . Barata, João; Mesquita, Duarte; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M.; Ribeiro, Fernando Reinaldo; Ioliva, Carlos; Pacheco, DiogoAs preocupações ambientais fazem parte da agenda de prioridades das sociedades modernas. São vários os fóruns e linhas de atuação incentivadas para evitar efeitos de degradação do equilíbrio ambiental global. São exemplos disso as políticas de diminuição de libertação de gases para a atmosfera, diminuição da utilização de materiais plásticos, diminuição da pegada ecológica, ou diminuir a libertação de resíduos nos oceanos, entre outras. Uma das ações que o cidadão pode realizar no seu dia-a-dia para contribuir ativamente para esta problemática é contribuindo para a reciclagem dos seus resíduos domésticos. No entanto, para massificar este útil contributo de cada um ainda há muito a ser feito e um dos principais aspetos é a execução de forma frequente e correta da entrega dos resíduos nos pontos de recolha que existem nas cidades. Neste artigo é descrito o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma informática que, entre outras funcionalidades, permite identificar o tipo de objeto a reciclar e indicar em que locais pode ser depositado. O objetivo é contribuir para o incentivo às boas práticas de reciclagem e simultaneamente incentivar e sensibilizar os cidadãos a uma cada vez mais útil prática de cidadania saudável. Apresentam-se no artigo os requisitos, a arquitetura e também os resultados conseguidos com o protótipo desenvolvido.
- Efficient data exchange between WebAssembly modulesPublication . Silva, Lucas; Metrôlho, J.C.M.M; Ribeiro, Fernando ReinaldoIn the past two decades, there has been a noticeable decoupling of machines and operating systems. In this context, WebAssembly has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional virtual machines. Originally designed for execution in web browsers, it has expanded to executing code in restricted and secure environments, and it stands out for its rapid startup, small footprint, and porta- bility. However, WebAssembly presents significant challenges in data transfer and the management of interactions with the module. Its specification requires each module to have its own memory, re- sulting in a “share-nothing” architecture. This restriction, combined with the limitations of importing and exporting functions that only handle numerical values, and the absence of an application binary interface (ABI) for sharing more complex data structures, leads to efficiency problems; these are exacerbated by the variety of programming languages that can be compiled and executed in the same environment. To address this inefficiency, the Karmem was designed and developed. It includes a new interface description language (IDL) aimed at facilitating the definition of data, functions, and relationships between modules. Additionally, a proprietary protocol—an optimized ABI for efficient data reading and minimal decoding cost—was created. A code generator capable of producing code for various programming languages was also conceived, ensuring harmonious interaction with the ABI and the foreign function interface. Finally, the compact runtime of Karmem, built atop a WebAssembly runtime, enables communication between modules and shared memory. Results of the experiments conducted show that Karmem represents an innovation in data communication for WASM in multiple environments and demonstrates the ability to overcome challenges of efficiency and interoperability.