A two-stage stochastic transportation problem with fixed handling costs and a priori selection of the distribution channels

In this paper, a transportation problem comprising stochastic demands, fixed handling costs at the origins, and fixed costs associated with the links is addressed. It is assumed that uncertainty is adequately captured via a finite set of scenarios. The problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic program. The goal is to minimize the total cost associated with the selected links plus the expected transportation and fixed handling costs. A prototype problem is initially presented which is then progressively extended to accommodate capacities at the origins and multiple commodities. The results of an extensive set of computational tests are reported and discussed

Ortodoxia e Lulismo em Portugal (Um depoimento seiscentista)

Abstract not availabl

Internationalization strategy of Aveleda’s Wine in the Chinese market

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsOne of the main products which the Portuguese nation might be more competitive is the wine. Portugal has a large variety of native breeds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality. With all these characteristics and with the current economic context, one thing must be done: Internationalization. Aveleda is one of the largest wine producers in Portugal and early the company’s commitment was to show their high experience and high quality of wines to the world. Therefore, the current largest producer/exporting company of VV1, a type of wine from a unique region in the world, have an undoubtedly competitive advantage in other markets. Actually, over 60% of the production is exported meaning that an increasingly investment on foreign markets will be the key for the company’s success in the long term. Casal Garcia, the most known Aveleda’s VV wine is the reflex of that and is now considered the most sold VV in the world. Given ambitious as a SME to expand market boundaries, China will be a great opportunity due to its enormous potential of consumption and the desire of new experiences/products from the occident. I developed an entry strategy and an Implementation Plan towards China, where the conditions are favorable for Aveleda to be a successful wine vendor in the near future, despite the impact of the current Portugal’s image not favor at all

Detrital provenance of the Upper Triassic siliciclastic rocks from southwest Iberia: a review

In southwestern Iberia the Upper Triassic successions of Lusitanian, Alentejo and Algarve basins records the fragmentation of Pangaea in Permian–Triassic during which the paleogeography of Iberia was dominated by a series of coalescing, alluvial–deltaic wedges and axial braided rivers. In this study, we discuss the potential sediment sources of the Lusitanian, Alentejo and Algarve basins based on detrital zircon-age spectra, suggesting that Iberia occupied a central position Iberia in Pangaea during late Triassic. Conventional sedimentary petrography and paleocurrent measurements of previous works was combined with recently published detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology of the Upper Triassic siliciclastic rocks of southwest Iberia to shed light on the detrital provenance record. Zircon age populations found in the Upper Triassic strata of the Lusitanian, Alentejo and Algarve basins is dominated by Neoproterozoic (33–76%) and Paleoproterozoic (12–15%) grains. The most important differences are the dominance of Devonian–Carboniferous (33%) zircon in the Alentejo basin and the greater representativeness of Permian–Carboniferous (6%) zircon in the Lusitanian basin. The deposition in these Upper Triassic basins of Portugal is marked by variability in sedimentary sources, involving the denudation and local-scale directions of sediment transport from the Iberian basement with possible additional supplies derived from outside present-day Iberia. The Upper Triassic successions evolved separately with the detrital transport being probably controlled by local drainage systems, and occupying a central position in Pangaea just before the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean

OMECO: Generating personalized business card designs from images

Rising competition in the retail and hospitality sectors, especially in densely populated and touristic destinations is a growing concern for many business owners, who wish to deliver their brand communication strategy to the target audience. Many of these businesses rely on word-of-mouth marketing, delivering business cards to customers. Furthermore, the lack of a dedicated marketing team and budget for brand image consolidation and design creation often limits the brand expansion capability. The purpose of this study is to propose a novel system prototype that can suggest personalized designs for business cards, based on an existing business card picture. Using perspective transformation, text extraction and colour reduction techniques, we were able to obtain features from the original business card image and generate an alternative design, personalized for the end user. We have successfully been able to generate customized business cards for different business types, with textual information and a custom colour palette matching the original submitted image. All of the system modules were demonstrated to have positive results for the test cases and the proposal answered the main research question. Further research and development is required to adapt the current system to other marketing printouts, such as flyers or posters.O aumento da concorrência nos setores retalhista e hoteleiro, especialmente em destinos e densamente povoados e turísticos, é uma preocupação crescente para muitos empresários, que desejam apresentar a sua estratégia de comunicação de marca ao público-alvo. Muitos destes negócios dependem do marketing boca-a-boca, entregando cartões de visita aos clientes. Além disso, a falta de uma equipa de marketing dedicada e de orçamento para a consolidação da imagem e criação de design limita muitas vezes a capacidade de expansão da marca. O objectivo deste estudo é propor um novo protótipo de sistema que possa sugerir desenhos personalizados para cartões de visita, com base numa imagem de cartão de visita já existente. Utilizando técnicas de transformação de perspectiva, extracção de texto e redução de cor, conseguímos obter características da imagem original do cartão de visita e gerar um desenho alternativo, personalizado para o utilizador final. Conseguímos gerar cartões de visita personalizados para diferentes tipos de negócio, com informação textual e uma palete de cores personalizada que corresponde à imagem original apresentada. Todos os módulos do sistema demonstraram ter resultados positivos para os casos de teste e a proposta respondeu à principal questão de pesquisa. É necessária mais investigação e desenvolvimento para adaptar o sistema atual a outros imprimíveis de marketing, tais como folhetos ou cartazes

Diseño estructural : unidad 4

1 archivo PDF (77 páginas) ; 2a ediciónSe ilustra el análisis del equilibrio de estructuras sujetas a distintos tipos de acciones

Plasmid Interactions Can Improve Plasmid Persistence in Bacterial Populations

It is difficult to understand plasmid maintenance in the absence of selection and theoretical models predict the conditions for plasmid persistence to be limited. Plasmid-associated fitness costs decrease bacterial competitivity, while imperfect partition allows the emergence of plasmid-free cells during cell division. Although plasmid conjugative transfer allows mobility into plasmid-free cells, the rate of such events is generally not high enough to ensure plasmid persistence. Experimental data suggest several factors that may expand the conditions favorable for plasmid maintenance, such as compensatory mutations and accessory genes that allow positive selection. Most of the previous studies focus on bacteria that carry a single plasmid. However, there is increasing evidence that multiple plasmids inhabit the same bacterial population and that interactions between them affect their transmission and persistence. Here, we adapt previous mathematical models to include multiple plasmids and perform computer simulations to study how interactions among them affect plasmid maintenance. We tested the contribution of different plasmid interaction parameters that impact three biological features: host fitness, conjugative transfer and plasmid loss - which affect plasmid persistence. The interaction affecting conjugation was studied in the contexts of intracellular and intercellular interactions, i.e., the plasmids interact when present in the same cell or when in different cells, respectively. First, we tested the effect of each type of interaction alone and concluded that only interactions affecting fitness (epistasis) prevented plasmid extinction. Although not allowing plasmid maintenance, intracellular interactions increasing conjugative efficiencies had a more determinant impact in delaying extinction than the remaining parameters. Then, we allowed multiple interactions between plasmids and concluded that, in a few cases, a combined effect of (intracellular) interactions increasing conjugation and fitness lead to plasmid maintenance. Our results show a hierarchy among these interaction parameters. Those affecting fitness favor plasmid persistence more than those affecting conjugative transfer and lastly plasmid loss. These results suggest that interactions between different plasmids can favor their persistence in bacterial communities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio