389 research outputs found

    Consulting project for the optimization of the automative providers network of Europ assistance Portugal: overview of the network capillarity

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    After an in-depth analysis of EAP’s current situation, it was founda need to implementaction that, ,represent significant operation algains. The seinitiatives have as hort-termim pact, how ever ,they are meant to be a firsts tepfor the introduction of more profound changes. The analysis’ results proved that itis crucial to improve the network efficiency byre- structuring critical zones and excluding low-performing providers. Additionally, to guarantee that EA Pinternal systems runsmoothly, action sare recommended regarding the TASK and RoS systems. Finally, providers ’performance can be enhanced bylinking KPIsto SLA

    Power Electronics Didactic Modules for Direct Current Machine Control

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    Several didactic modules for an electric machinery laboratory are presented. The modules are dedicated for DC machinery control and get their characteristic curves. The didactic modules have a front panel with power and signal connectors and can be configurable for any DC motor type. The three-phase bridge inverter proposed is one of the most popular topologies and is commercially available in power package modules. The control techniques and power drives were designed to satisfy static and dynamic performance of DC machines. Each power section is internally self-protected against misconnections and short-circuits. Isolated output signals of current and voltage measurements are also provided, adding versatility for use either in didactic or research applications. The implementation of such modules allowed experimental confirmation of the expected performance

    Port of JMF to JME-CDC

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    Estágio realizado na Sun Microsystems Ireland IncTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

    Efficiency Improvement and Potential LCOE Reduction with an LFR-XX SMS Plant with Storage

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    Several forms of renewable energy have in the last decade achieved a remarkable technological improvement and cost effectiveness, including Solar Energy. Photovoltaic systems (PV) are reaching grid parity in the sunniest regions of Europe. Apart from PV, a promising technology is Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) with thermal storage, because it enables higher power plant availability throughout the year as well as dispatchability, a highly important and valuable feature for a power plant. However significant cost reductions are still to be achieved, for CSP to be competitive with conventional electricity production and with PV. In this paper a few technological improvements are described and a proposal is made to combine them in a system that is more efficient and has, simultaneously, the potential of being cheaper. The goal is to show the potential for advanced LFR concepts in combination with high temperature molten salt mixtures and energy storage as being also important contenders to the objective of bringing STE- Solar Thermal Electricity to the market in a competitive way. The concept presented and developed includes a higher ΔT of the heat transfer fluid (HTF), a particular storage strategy and a new optical concept based on a new Linear Fresnel Concentrator (LFR XX SMS-Simultaneous Multiple Surface, Fig.1,2, [1] enabling an important increase in the overall yearly solar to electricity conversion efficiency and generating an important potential for electricity cost reduction. It is shown that values approaching 10eurocents/kWh, for a 50MW plant with 7 hours storage capacity are possible in Southern Europe

    Increasing the Cost Effectiveness of CSP Technologies Through the Development of a New CLFR “Etendue Matched” Collector

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    A new CLFR “Etendue Matched” is a promising CSP technology to achieve a better cost effectiveness with a lower levelized cost per m2 . This new technology can significantly reduce shading and blocking existing in a conventional LFR (Chaves, 2009; Chaves, 2010), while at the same time optimizing primary and secondary concentration to the limits allowed by first principles in optics. A preliminary evaluation of the optical and thermal performance has been performed (Canavarro, 2010, Horta 2011), and a configuration for a full scale CSP power plant proposed, with two secondary receivers (Fig.1), i.e a multiple receiver solution

    Blinking Lights in Taurus: Long-term Variability of Young Stars and Brown Dwarfs

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    Tese de mestrado, Física (Astrofísica e Cosmologia), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2022Young stellar and substellar objects are known to change their apparent brightness in an irregular way. By studying this variability from the optical to mid infrared it is possible to uncover information on the underlying physics. Several effects are imprinted in the light curves, from change of extinction, spot activity and accretion phenomena. The Taurus star forming region is one of the closest star forming regions to the Solar System, containing a rich population of newly formed stellar and substellar sources. We present an analysis of long-term variability for a set of 491 spectroscopically confirmed young sources in Taurus. We use multi-epoch photometry optical data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and mid-infrared data from AllWISE survey. Using various variability indices, we selected 304 (79%) optical variables based on ZTF data and 279 (62%) mid-infrared variables from AllWISE. In the optical data we visually classify the light curves and find that most present visual bursts. To infer the possible origins of variability, we study the trajectories of the sources in color-magnitude diagrams and determine their properties. By comparison with the properties obtained from simple toy models, we can explain much of the observed variability as being due to accretion, hot spots, as well as changes in the amount of extinction. Using AllWISE data we also find that the observed variability causes changes in the determination of the YSO class and observe that 80 sources (32%) experience a change in class. This means that the number of sources in a particular class can change over time due to their variability, which can impact important physical parameters such as the star formation rate, or studies of the protoplanetary disk evolution with time

    Determinantes da estrutura de capital: efeito de variáveis micro e macroeconómicas no setor hoteleiro em Portugal - uma análise de dados em painel

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    A estrutura de capital investiga a forma como as empresas financiam os seus investimentos e a identificação dos determinantes que afetam a estrutura de capital é crucial no entendimento das decisões de investimento e de financiamento das empresas. A estrutura de capital ganhou maior relevância após o trabalho de Modigliani e Miller (1958). Esse trabalho serviu como referência para o desenvolvimento de várias teorias sobre a estrutura de capital, nomeadamente agrupadas em teoria do trade-off e teoria da pecking order. Este estudo pretende analisar os determinantes de natureza micro e macroeconómica da estrutura de capital, de uma amostra de 1213 PME do setor hoteleiro em Portugal, obtida através da base de dados Amadeus, para o período de 2014-2018, utilizando dados em painel. A variável dependente estudada foi o endividamento total. Como variáveis independentes foram consideradas variáveis microeconómicas e variáveis macroeconómicas. As de natureza microeconómica foram a rendibilidade, a tangibilidade do ativo, a dimensão, a poupança fiscal não associada à dívida, o crescimento e a reputação. Por sua vez, as de natureza macroeconómica foram o crescimento do PIB e a taxa de inflação. Os resultados demonstram que as variáveis rendibilidade, poupança fiscal não associada à dívida, reputação e inflação apresentam uma relação negativa com o endividamento. As variáveis tangibilidade do ativo, dimensão e crescimento do PIB apresentam uma relação positiva com o endividamento. A variável crescimento não é estatisticamente significativa, pelo que não tem poder explicativo no que tange ao endividamento das PME hoteleiras em Portugal. As variáveis de natureza macroeconómica apresentaram maior poder explicativo em relação ao endividamento total do que as variáveis microeconómicas. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo conferem aderência à teoria do trade-off e à teoria da pecking order como teorias explicativas da estrutura de capital das PME hoteleiras em Portugal.The capital structure investigates the way how companies finance their investments and the determinants identification that affect the capital structure is crucial in understanding companies investment and financing decisions. The capital structure obtained more relevance after the work of Modigliani and Miller (1958). Their work served as a reference for the development of several theories on the capital structure, namely grouped in the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory. This study aims to analyze the determinants of micro and macroeconomic nature of the capital structure, from a sample of 1213 SME in the hotel sector in Portugal, obtained through the Amadeus database, for the period 2014-2018, using panel data model. The dependent variable studied was total debt. As independent variables, microeconomic variables and macroeconomic variables were considered. The microeconomic variables were profitability, asset tangibility, size, non-debt tax shields, growth and reputation. In turn, the macroeconomic variables were GDP growth and inflation rate. The results show that the variables profitability, non-debt tax shields, reputation and inflation rate have a negative relationship with indebtedness. The variables asset tangibility, size and GDP growth have a positive relationship with indebtedness. The growth variable is not statistically significant, so it has no explanatory power regarding to the indebtedness of hotel SME in Portugal. The macroeconomic variables showed greater explanatory power in relation to indebtedness than microeconomic variables. The results obtained in this study provide adherence to the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory as explanatory theories of the capital structure of hotel SME in Portugal

    Intravenous versus subcutaneous Trastuzumab in the treatment of breast cancer

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    Poster presented at the 44th ESCP Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy. Lisbon, 28-30 October 201

    Cross-cultural validation and psychometric evaluation of the Self-Medication Assessment Tool (SMAT) for assessing and optimizing medication therapy management of older people

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    Background, rationale and objectives: The assessment of medication management ability in the elderly can be performed using specific tools, such as the Self-Medication Assessment Tool, which considers real and simulated regimens. The objective of this study was to perform the linguistic and cultural adaptation of the Self-Medication Assessment Tool to European Portuguese and determine its psychometric properties. Methods: The adaptation commenced with the translation/back translation cycle completed by 4 independent bilingual experts. The cultural component was accomplished through an external expert meeting and a longitudinal screening of concepts and construct. The pilot study was carried out in a sample of 150 Portuguese community-dwelling elders. Descriptive data, correlations, internal reliability, response consistency and exploratory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS Statistics (v22). Results: The pilot study was carried out in a sample of 150 community-dwelling elders: 112 (74.7%) participants were women; mean age was 74.73 ± 6.43 years. The Self-Medication Assessment Tool (Portuguese version) standard regimen (simulated medication regimen) mean scores were 20.92 ± 6.83 in functional ability and 38.75 ± 5.92 in cognitive ability; the real regimen (medication taken by the elderly) mean scores were 83.74 ± 15.86 in medication recall, 96.96 ± 11.39 in adherence self-report and 4.82 ± 10.1 in intentional non-adherence. Cronbach's α were 0.87 (functional ability), 0.84 (cognitive ability), 0.57 (medication recall), 0.94 (adherence self-report) and 0.79 (intentional non-adherence). The response consistency between test and re-test was verified. Conclusions: We have developed the European Portuguese version of the Self-Medication Assessment Tool with acceptable psychometric properties which can now be employed in the study of the elderly in clinical and research contexts
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