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- English Language Teachers’ Awareness of English as a Lingua Franca in Multilingual and Multicultural ContextsPublication . Bayyurt, Yasemin; Kurt, Yavuz; Öztekin, Elifcan; Guerra, Luis; Cavalheiro, Lili; Pereira, RicardoToday English has become the Lingua Franca or common language of many people, regardless of their being native or nonnative speaker of English all over the world. Therefore, it has become necessary to educate pre-/in-service teachers with an awareness towards the significance of the involvement of an “English as a lingua franca” (ELF) perspective in their language teaching practice in multilingual/multicultural contexts. In a rapidly changing world, many English language teachers and teacher trainers are cognizant of the impact of migration in their teaching contexts. However, it is still not very clear to what extent and in what context they are integrating ELF related issues in their language teaching practice. In this study, we make an attempt to unveil in-service teachers’ beliefs about ELF in pedagogical practice in three different countries – Poland, Portugal and Turkey. In order to do that we have adopted a questionnaire from an earlier study investigating the involvement of culture in ELT in expanding circle contexts. The findings of the study revealed that although teachers in these contexts are aware of the significance of the inclusion of an ELF-aware perspective in ELT, they are still hesitant about its applicability in their own teaching context. This study has implications for raising English language teachers’ awareness in conceptualizing how an ELF-aware pedagogical approach can be implemented in a multilingual/multicultural context.
- Integrating Tuberculosis data in State of São Paulo over Semantic Web: a proof of conceptPublication . Pellison, Felipe Carvalho; Lima, Vinícius Costa; Rijo, Rui Pedro Charters Lopes; Alves, DomingosAlthough tuberculosis is a curable disease and, in most cases, with low cost drugs, its mortality still is a global concern. This facts turns our attention to management issues and the difficulties related to retrieving data of interest that are powdered on many applications. This work presents a semantic web approach to achieve functional and semantic interoperability between two applications in State of São Paulo that contain tuberculosis data. By combining a theoretical-practical development, the geolocalization tool created is a proof of concept that could help managers to take strategic decisions and develop better health policies by showing the distribution of tuberculosis cases across the state. This work stands out the importance of working in solutions that could improve the quality of data in health field and daily activities of health professionals.
- Models of corporate governance applied to businesses in the Iberian Peninsula stock marketsPublication . Sardinha, Ana; Ribeiro, Humberto; Alves, RaquelThis paper proposes to analyse models of corporate governance applied to businesses listed in the stock markets of the Iberian Peninsula, namely the ones of Lisbon and Madrid. The corporate governance subject is becoming increasingly important for businesses as it is difficult to manage the interests of every economic agents related to an organization. The corporate governance is characterized by a system in which organizations are managed and controlled with the objective to promote efficiency and competitiveness of businesses. This study is intended to examine the following issue: what are the determinants that may influence the choice of corporate governance models adopted by listed businesses within the Iberian Peninsula? To establish the determinants of the choice of model were selected nine variables that have differentiating characteristic between the models of corporate governance used by corporations in Portugal and Spain. Testing nine possible determinants, the sample employed consists of several businesses listed on the Iberian stock indexes PSI-20 and IBEX-35, over the years 2009 to 2011. The data was obtained through analysis of single annual and consolidated accounts from annual reports, including corporate governance reports. The statistical analysis was carried using the logistic regression model. The variables found to significantly influence the choice of corporate governance model in our study were: the sector of activity and firm size, contributing therefore to the justification of the choice of models of corporate governance adopted by Iberian businesses.
- Distributed Architecture for Unmanned Vehicle ServicesPublication . Ramos, João; Ribeiro, Roberto; Safadinho, David; Barroso, João; Rabadão, Carlos; Pereira, AntónioThe demand for online services is increasing. Services that would require a long time to understand, use and master are becoming as transparent as possible to the users, that tend to focus only on the final goals. Combined with the advantages of the unmanned vehicles (UV), from the unmanned factor to the reduced size and costs, we found an opportunity to bring to users a wide variety of services supported by UV, through the Internet of Unmanned Vehicles (IoUV). Current solutions were analyzed and we discussed scalability and genericity as the principal concerns. Then, we proposed a solution that combines several services and UVs, available from anywhere at any time, from a cloud platform. The solution considers a cloud distributed architecture, composed by users, services, vehicles and a platform, interconnected through the Internet. Each vehicle provides to the platform an abstract and generic interface for the essential commands. Therefore, this modular design makes easier the creation of new services and the reuse of the different vehicles. To confirm the feasibility of the solution we implemented a prototype considering a cloud-hosted platform and the integration of custom-built small-sized cars, a custom-built quadcopter, and a commercial Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. To validate the prototype and the vehicles’ remote control, we created several services accessible via a web browser and controlled through a computer keyboard. We tested the solution in a local network, remote networks and mobile networks (i.e., 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE)) and proved the benefits of decentralizing the communications into multiple point-to-point links for the remote control. Consequently, the solution can provide scalable UV-based services, with low technical effort, for anyone at anytime and anywhere.
- Web AR Solution for UAV Pilot Training and Usability TestingPublication . Ribeiro, Roberto; Ramos, João; Safadinho, David; Reis, Arsénio; Rabadão, Carlos; Barroso, João; Pereira, AntónioData and services are available anywhere at any time thanks to the Internet and mobile devices. Nowadays, there are new ways of representing data through trendy technologies such as augmented reality (AR), which extends our perception of reality through the addition of a virtual layer on top of real-time images. The great potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for carrying out routine and professional tasks has encouraged their use in the creation of several services, such as package delivery or industrial maintenance. Unfortunately, drone piloting is difficult to learn and requires specific training. Since regular training is performed with virtual simulations, we decided to propose a multiplatform cloud-hosted solution based in Web AR for drone training and usability testing. This solution defines a configurable trajectory through virtual elements represented over barcode markers placed on a real environment. The main goal is to provide an inclusive and accessible training solution which could be used by anyone who wants to learn how to pilot or test research related to UAV control. For this paper, we reviewed drones, AR, and human–drone interaction (HDI) to propose an architecture and implement a prototype, which was built using a Raspberry Pi 3, a camera, and barcode markers. The validation was conducted using several test scenarios. The results show that a real-time AR experience for drone pilot training and usability testing is achievable through web technologies. Some of the advantages of this approach, compared to traditional methods, are its high availability by using the web and other ubiquitous devices; the minimization of technophobia related to crashes; and the development of cost-effective alternatives to train pilots and make the testing phase easier for drone researchers and developers through trendy technologies.
- Molecular Dissection of Escherichia coli CpdB: Roles of the N Domain in Catalysis and Phosphate Inhibition, and of the C Domain in Substrate Specificity and Adenosine InhibitionPublication . López-Villamizar, Iralis; Cabezas, Alicia; Pinto, Rosa María; Canales, José; Ribeiro, João Meireles; Rodrigues, Joaquim Rui; Costas, María Jesús; Cameselle, José CarlosCpdB is a 3′-nucleotidase/2′ 3′-cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, active also with rea-sonable efficiency on cyclic dinucleotides like c-di-AMP (3′,5′-cyclic diadenosine monophosphate) and c-di-GMP (3′,5′-cyclic diadenosine monophosphate). These are regulators of bacterial physi-ology, but are also pathogen-associated molecular patterns recognized by STING to induce IFN-β response in infected hosts. The cpdB gene of Gram-negative and its homologs of gram-positive bacteria are virulence factors. Their protein products are extracytoplasmic enzymes (either periplas-mic or cell–wall anchored) and can hydrolyze extracellular cyclic dinucleotides, thus reducing the innate immune responses of infected hosts. This makes CpdB(-like) enzymes potential targets for novel therapeutic strategies in infectious diseases, bringing about the necessity to gain insight into the molecular bases of their catalytic behavior. We have dissected the two-domain structure of Escherichia coli CpdB to study the role of its N-terminal and C-terminal domains (CpdB_Ndom and CpdB_Cdom). The specificity, kinetics and inhibitor sensitivity of point mutants of CpdB, and truncated proteins CpdB_Ndom and CpdB_Cdom were investigated. CpdB_Ndom contains the catalytic site, is inhibited by phosphate but not by adenosine, while CpdB_Cdom is inactive but contains a substrate-binding site that determines substrate specificity and adenosine inhibition of CpdB. Among CpdB substrates, 3′-AMP, cyclic dinucleotides and linear dinucleotides are strongly dependent on the CpdB_Cdom binding site for activity, as the isolated CpdB_Ndom showed much-diminished activity on them. In contrast, 2′,3′-cyclic mononucleotides and bis-4-nitrophenylphosphate were actively hydrolyzed by CpdB_Ndom, indicating that they are rather independent of the CpdB_Cdom binding site.
- Supporting Better Physical Activity in a Smart City: a Framework for Suggesting and Supervising Walking PathsPublication . Rodrigues, Mário; Santos, Rita; Queirós, Alexandra; Silva, Anabela; Amaral, João; Simões, Patrícia; Gonçalves, Jorge; Martins, Ciro; Pereira, António; Rocha, Nelson Pacheco daThe increase of elderly population creates the need to promote healthy aging, with autonomy and independence, for preserving the functional capacity and quality of life as much as possible. To achieve this goal the recommendations include walking a certain amount of steps daily, given that the exact amount of steps changes with age, lesions, and chronic health conditions that can affect health and well-being. Understanding how much exercise is adequate for an individual requires spe- cialized knowledge and training. It is important to avoid risks that include: (1) be too aggressive in exercising and increase injuries, create new ones, and later refrain in exercising more; or (2) be too conservative and in the long run have an activity level under each one’s potential and below what is recommended. In this article is proposed and discussed a framework that aims to support peo- ple having an adequate level of activity for its particular condition and to do it without disrupting daily routines. The framework is supported by a software system built for monitoring well-being and physical activity in the context of Smart Cities. The system is composed by: (1) smartphone applications that interact with the end-user for showing possible exercises and walk routes, and that collects some relevant data; (2) a back-office application that collects and presents data obtained from the smartphone applications. The back-office application is designed for health professionals to follow users’ progression over time, to recommend new exercises or to correct less optimal situations. The first tests with a system implementing this framework show that the solution is robust and able to be used in a large scale.
- Bio&Med Search – A Platform to Help Health Professionals about PharmacogeneticsPublication . Rocha, Andreia; Vilhena, Joana; Bernardino, Anabela; Bernardino, Eugénia; Gonçalves, Alexandrino; Ascenso, Rita M.T.Bio&Med Search is an online platform that allows to get data from different databases; it permits the collection of information about genetic research, namely genetic variants and drug side effects associated with genetic variability. Based on the concept of pharmacogenetics people respond differently to medicines according to their genes’ variants. Nowadays, health professionals should be more and more aware of the origin of several drug severe side effects. This proposed web platform will allow the improvement and better prescription practices by health professionals, from physicians to pharmaceuticals. With Bio&Med Search, it will be possible to access scientific information and data about genetic variants associated to certain diseases and drugs, to better suggest and adjust the patient’s medication according to its diagnostic and chemical composition of drugs and may suggest genetic tests. In this way, the error of prescription of drugs decreases and the quality of life of the patient may be improved, avoiding already described side effects. It will be possible to compare studies and literature associated to each drug, chemical composition, gene, gene variants and diseases.
- Review Paper on Transmitarray AntennasPublication . Reis, João R.; Vala, Mario; Caldeirinha, Rafael F. S.This paper presents a thorough review of transmitarray devices particularly aiming antenna beamsteering, gathering some of the most relevant solutions published by the scientific community in the field. First, the background for realizing 1-D and 2-D antenna beamsteering with a transmitarray is introduced. Subsequently, several examples of unit-cells for transmitarray implementation and complete transmitarray designs presented in the literature are outlined. Each solution is analyzed in detail, identifying the nature of its layout, e.g., based on microstrip patches, frequency selective surfaces (FSS), or metamaterials (MMs), and the method employed to enable electronic reconfigurability, e.g., p-i-n diodes, varactor diodes, or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). In addition, some models with the capability of controlling the wavefront polarization modes are also included herein since these are the base of hybrid transmitarrays, i.e., transmitarray with both electronic beamsteering and polarization control. Finally, all the models are compared against each other in order to highlight their benefits and limitations, summarizing their main characteristics, such as the frequency of operation and bandwidth, insertion loss, physical dimensions, and maximum beamsteering range, when available.
- Assessment of the fatigue performance of heat-treated addictive manufactured TiAl6V4 specimensPublication . Borrego, L.P.; Jesus, J. de; Ferreira, J.A.M.; Costa, J.D.M.; Capela, C.; Capela, C.Titanium Ti6Al4V alloy has excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance combined with low specific weight, and is commonly used in biomedical applications, automotive and aerospace components, involving fatigue loadings. Current work studies the fatigue behavior under strain amplitude control of titanium TiAl6V4 specimens, intending to characterize fatigue strength from low to high life range after different heat treatments. Fatigue tests were carried out at room temperature, using round dog bone specimens produced by selective laser melting (SLM), where laser powder deposition occurred in layers perpendicular to the loading direction. Two batches of specimens were tested: one subjected to a stress relieve treatment and a second one treated by the hot isostatic pressing process (HIP). The material was characterized in terms of the tensile mechanical properties, cycle curve, Basquin and Coffin equations. Additional analysis of the hardness and scanning electron microscopy was carried out to complement the discussion of the results. The obtained dada showed that the stress relieved specimens exhibits significantly cyclic softening, increasing with applied strain, while HIP specimens show a practically stable cyclic behavior in relation to the monotonic curve. Material response for both treatments is well fitted by Basquin and Coffin-Manson formulations. The transition life was 187 reversals and 326 reversals, for stress relieved and HIP specimens, respectively. Fatigue life for a given strain is governed by the strain value, independently of the post manufacturing heat treatment.