Revista ComInG - Communications and Innovations Gazette

Aplicativo UFSCar Planner

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

This article presents the development of UFSCar Planner, an applica-
tion produced, using the agile Kanban methodology[1], by the PET-BCC group
at the Federal University of São Carlos, aimed at students in the community.
Its primary objective is to facilitate the administration of its users’ daily activi-
ties in college through features such as creating events, viewing the University
Restaurant menu and controlling attendance in subjects.

A Tecnologia como Agente de Inclusão: O Impacto do Curso de Capacitação em Informática para Imigrantes

Juliana Zambon, Millena Suiani Costa — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

O presente artigo descreve as motivações e o planejamento em torno do curso de Capacitação em Informática para Imigrantes, bem como detalha a sua implementação como uma medida inclusiva que visa principalmente o desenvolvimento educacional dos participantes. As aulas são ministradas de forma altamente personalizada, adaptando-se às necessidades e conhecimentos prévios dos alunos. Assim, o curso é dividido em dois níveis: básico -- no qual se abordam tópicos como componentes essenciais de um computador e noções iniciais de sistemas operacionais, digitação e utilização da internet -- e intermediário -- que abrange, especialmente, ferramentas digitais como pacote Office, e-mails, Google Drive e similares.

Sistema de detecção de phishing com base em query DNS

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

The phenomenon of phishing attacks is an issue that has persisted in society for more than two decades, affecting an increasing number of victims over the years. In light of this enduring challenge, researchers have been dedicated to creating efficient solutions for the detection and mitigation of this type of attack. In this context, the present work proposes the development and demonstration of a phishing detection system designed for ARM systems, offering an easily deployable implementation through Docker technology. Furthermore, the system utilizes the log service of a DNS server as an integral part of its detection strategy. This initiative aims to contribute to cyber protection by providing a robust and practical approach to the identification and prevention of phishing attempts, thereby seeking to reduce this growing problem.

An analysis of the results obtained in the first year of the preparatory project for the Programming Contest

Jonathan Weber Nogueira, Fernando Pedrazzi Pozzer — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

This article aims to analyze the results obtained in the first year of the competitive programming research project, which aims to prepare students for the Brazilian Computing Society Programming Marathon. The evolution of students in the competitive environment is analyzed, along with their interpretations about their own growth.

AlphaZero as a playtest tool

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

The tabletop gaming market has maintained rapid growth in recent
years, reaching tens of billions of dollars. Balancing these games is a market
demand and a challenging discipline that requires significant analytical skill
from the game designer. This skill is built through the conduct and observation of
hundreds of playtests in test groups, in a error-prone process, due to the difficulty
in finding individuals willing to play prototypes repeatedly, with only minor rule
iterations. Additionally, not every game designer keeps a complete record of the
tests and can handle the cause-and-effect relationships that small rule changes
have on the outcomes. This work investigates AlphaZero as a computational
intelligence technique to alleviate the demand for human players in the game
creation and testing process. While existing research in the field seeks a more
efficient agent, this study applies the algorithm to generate a dataset to help
the game designer identify points of imbalance and explore creativity. At the
current stage, a version of AlphaZero is implemented for self-training. Finally,
we discuss areas in which the method can assist the game design process using
the data generated by the algorithm during training.

Investigation of the Efficacy of Niche Techniques and Environmental Differentiation applied to Evolutionary Robotics Algorithms

Brenda Silva Machado, Jônata Tyska Carvalho, Arthur Holtrup Bianchini — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

The Evolutionary Strategies (ES) algorithm has proven to be an efficient optimization technique over the decades. Recently, an adaptation of the method, proposed by researchers from the company OpenAI, demonstrated the advantages of using ES techniques in parallel as an important alternative to the also relevant Reinforcement Learning method. Techniques that use population optimization approaches, such as evolutionary strategies, benefit from the diversity of candidate solutions in the evolutionary process. For this reason, mechanisms that preserve diversity, such as the creation of islands and niches during the evolutionary process, have been proposed and investigated in other evolutionary algorithms. This work aims to analyze how the addition of niche techniques, which include environmental differentiation between subpopulations, can be relevant to Evolutionary Robotics algorithms using the version of the ES algorithm recently proposed by OpenAI. Using the well-known double-pole balancing problem as a test task, we compared the effectiveness of solutions generated with and without the niche mechanism in the OpenAI-ES and Stochastic Steady State (SSS) algorithms. The results obtained demonstrated performance increases of approximately 8.6\% and 53.5\% for OpenAI-ES and SSS, respectively, when the niche mechanism is used.

Português

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

The research on pollen and fungal spores in the atmosphere is a relevant issue in various parts of the world, with implications for public health, urban planning, agriculture, and other areas. Sample collection points need to be established, and with the use of an airborne particle collector, samples are obtained and taken to a laboratory where microscopic analysis is performed for particle identification and counting by experts. In this way, the data recording process is carried out manually, requiring time and human resources. In this context, the project's objective is to develop software to expedite particle identification and analysis, based on speech recognition.

Classificação de patologias em estruturas usando redes neurais convolucionais: diferenciação em trincas, fissuras e rachaduras

Luís Gustavo Werle Tozevich, Giovani Rubert Librelotto, Pedro Luís Tozevich — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

This study proposes a convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based approach for classifying cracks, fissures, and fractures through image analysis. The methodology encompasses preprocessing, data balancing, and employs the ResNet50 architecture with pooling, dropout, and regularization layers. Advanced data augmentation techniques are applied to overcome image scarcity. The model achieves approximately 96% accuracy, highlighting its effectiveness. However, areas for improvement are identified, such as continuous expansion of the realistic dataset. In summary, this study provides valuable insights into structural inspection using CNNs, with practical implications for infrastructure security and maintenance.

Gurias da Comp: The permanence of Women in Undergraduate Courses in Computer Science and Engineering

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

This paper presents the account of the development of a project aimed at promoting the retention of female students in the Computer Science programs at the Federal University of Pelotas. We identified a scenario of invisibility and intimidation experienced by female students. Consequently, a project was developed to provide support and improvement opportunities for female students, with the goal of achieving gender equity within the student community in the field of computer science.

QUALIFYING ACADEMIC PRACTICES: DIGITAL INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY AT UFPEL

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

This paper presents a digital inclusion experience from the project entitled ”Qualificando as Pr´aticas Acadˆemicas: Inclus˜ao Digital e Diversidade” conducted by the PET Computer Science group at the Federal University of Pelotas. The project received support from Pr´o-Reitoria de Assuntos Estudantis. The course involved nine women from various fields of study, different
age groups, and diverse gender identities. Project management, lesson development, and the creation of educational materials were accomplished using open collaborative tools, available in both digital and physical formats. The project was exclusively taught by students from the Engineering and Computer Science program at UFPel, who served as facilitators and monitors. The course covered topics related to information technology. At the end of the process, the project received positive evaluations from the participants and produced favorable results when assessing the knowledge gained after its implementation.

Explorando a Assimetria do Dimensionamento de Transistores CMOS em Portas Complexas

Vítor de Melo Mandowski, Henrique C. Kessler, Leomar Soares da Rosa Júnior — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

To efficiently design logic gates, it is crucial to size the transistors appropriately to optimize area, propagation delay, and power consumption. There are widely used techniques in the literature for transistor sizing, but it is believed that an alternative sizing approach may offer better results for complex gates. In this context, this study explored asymmetric transistor sizing in complex gates, resulting in improvements in propagation delay for logic gates with large output loads.

Portuguese

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

Activities to encourage teaching, such as tutoring, bootcamps and mini-courses, are important for enriching the academic environment. With this in mind, the PET group has developed activities to assist students with web programming and the introduction of the course. This article aims to describe and analyze the results of the activities: Web Bootcamp and Minicourse for first-year students. The Web Bootcamp project aims to teach the basics of web programming, an area not much explored as much in the introduction of computer science. The activity was open to all students on the course, and had feedback (positive/negative) evidenced by the sending of forms and questionnaires for evaluation and diagnostic purposes. The Minicourse for Freshmen is the project aimed at introducing programming to new students of the Computer Science course. It was taught online and aims to prepare new students who do not yet have a solid foundation in algorithms. The main software used was Portugol, as it is more similar to the native and everyday language. The response given to the project was positive, as indicated by the questionnaires and forms sent.

Resolução Comentada de Exercícios na Plataforma URI-Beecrowd

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0300

Este artigo descreve a realização do projeto de Resolução de Exercícios da Plataforma URI de 2020, desenvolvido pelo XXX da XXX. O objetivo principal foi reforçar os graduandos de cursos de Computação da XXX no aprendizado das linguagens de programação C e Python. O projeto propos resoluções para os exercícios de programação em C disponíveis na plataforma URI, tanto no nível iniciante quanto em tópicos relacionados a strings. Para a organização, foram utilizadas plataformas como Trello e GitHub. Além disso, o projeto foi ampliado para incluir a aplicação de programação na linguagem Python.