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- Quantitative analysis of PIN choices: a contribution to the establishment of authentication requirementsPublication . Carvalho, José Carlos; Sá, Vítor; Magalhães, Maria José; Magalhães, Sérgio Tenreiro deThe authentication using a PIN number remains one of the most used ways to enter a system (mobile phone, ATM, etc.). Many people seem to dislike this form of authentication because they simply despise their use, placing unsafe PINs just because they have to put some. Some relevant results are the combination 1234, thecombinations using only one digit (example: 1111), or the central line of the numerical keypad. On the other hand there is some understanding because it is proven that remember strong passwords is a difficult task for humans, and the tendency is to choose the simplest ones. This research had a sample of 497 participants and aimed to understand the preferred choice of the participants in relation to the number of digits used for a PIN number (a choice between four and/or six digits) and realized the amount of times that each of the available digits was used. To this end it was developed a web-based tool for entering the data. This application was intended only to the data collection process, being the information processed further. Through this application, the user was asked to enter four and/or six-digit PINs. The method does not raise any doubt on the participants, which were informed about the anonymity and confidentiality of the data, and never they were asked to identify themselves. Participants were asked to use the PINs that they normally use in other contexts. With the analysis of the data it was possible to understand the distribution of digits per position in a PIN, check which digits is more/less used in each position, and check which digit is more/less used regardless of its position. Among the conclusions it appears that the layout of the numeric keypad of the system influence the PIN choice.
- Establishment of automatization as a requirement for time management input modules in project management information systems for academic activities – a game theory approachPublication . Magalhães, Sérgio Tenreiro de; Magalhães, Maria José; Sá, Vítor J.Academics are expected to engage in several works in several different domains, namely research and development, general management and services to the community, while lecturing a set of courses. Academics might differ in their preference for some of these activities and also in their corresponding performance. Quality assurance in academic institutions implies monitoring performance, what is frequently done by measuring a set of quantitative results at the end of a certain period. Project Management best practices can change this frequent practice, introducing, for instance, the concept of cost efficiency, allowing for objective comparisons between different types of activities. For this to happen there is a need to monitor the time spent by each academic in each activities or, at least, in each set of activities of the same type. The challenge is to know how to do that. Game Theory has been studying decision making in competitive environment, which is increasingly the case in academic institutions. Therefore, there is a primary need to verify if a relevant percentage of the academics have a perception that there is an incentive to lie in their timesheets, due to competitive thinking. This paper presents a pilot study that allowed concluding that time management input modules in project management information systems for academic activities must be automated, eliminating the human factor in timesheet fillings.