A Novel Rework Costing Methodology Applied To a Bus Manufacturing Company

This paper focuses on the quality costs analysis in the automotive industry, specifically a bus manufacturing company. The main goal was to improve the quality costs indicator, by providing means to evaluate the failure cost within the productive process. Kaizen-lean principles were used as methodology. A quality cost analysis was made based on literature review and in an ISO standard in quality costs. Process analysis was made based on the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle. As the main achievements of this article, the quality costs were identified as well as its sources. Then, by collecting a very significant amount of data, from various departments, regarding each of the identified costs, it was possible to measure these costs and create a database to scorecard them – including rework costs. Due to the lack of rework costs information, a great part of this analysis focused on data collection and estimating/calculating these associated costs. Thus, it was possible to develop associated KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to support decision making and a graphic indicator to show the overall balance between quality costs and non-quality costs. In this process, some difficulties were found as well as some opportunities for improvement. The critical ones were implemented during this project, while the others are scheduled for future work. In terms of a more technological approach to these studies, some autonomous systems can exist, although it comes at a great cost. However, the 4.0 Industry concept is evolving and fits perfectly in the quality costs monitorization context: an integrated information system with a global data network allows for a quick check-up of all the quality costs, by category, while freeing employees from doing this work manually.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

a systematic review in children and adolescents aged 6-18 years

© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.OBJECTIVE: This report aimed to systematically review the evidence for a differential association between objective and self-reported physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on academic achievement. DESIGN: Systematic review. DATA SOURCES: Studies were identified from searches in Embase, Education Resources Information Center, PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTdiscus and Web of Science databases from January 2000 to December 2016. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Eligibility criteria included cross-sectional, longitudinal and interventional study designs. Outcomes included students' school grade or a standardised test or measure of academic achievement. Explanatory variables were cardiorespiratory fitness and objective and self-reported physical activity. Inclusion criteria included school-aged children and adolescents aged-18 years (or students from primary to secondary school when student's participants age was not described) and articles published in English, Portuguese or Spanish. RESULTS: A total of 51 articles met inclusion criteria: 41 cross-sectional, 2 intervention and 8 longitudinal studies. Results from 11 studies were inconsistent regarding the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement. Ten of the 16 articles reported positive associations between self-reported physical activity and academic achievement. From the 22 studies that analysed the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and academic achievement, it was verified that they all generally support the beneficial effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on students' academic achievement. CONCLUSION: Higher cardiorespiratory fitness may be important to enhance children and adolescents' health and, additionally, academic achievement. Due to a lack of consensus across studies, methodological issues associated with the assessment of physical activity should be considered when investigating physical activity and academic achievement.publishe

Modelo integrativo de teorias cognitivas da motivação. Uma investigação realizada com professores

Neste estudo começamos por fundamentar a pertinência de um modelo integrativo que integre diversas teorias cognitivistas da motivação, no sentido de explicar como é que diversas variáveis motivacionais se relacionam e influenciam mutuamente, para melhor compreender o empenhamento e também o bem-estar profissional. O modelo que apresentamos parte do Modelo do Desânimo Aprendido e dos Modelos Expectativa-Valor da Motivação Humana, em particular do Modelo da Discrepância Motivacional, mas procura superar algumas das limitações destes modelos, integrando também os contributos da Teoria da Motivação Intrínseca e da Teoria da Auto-Eficácia. Posteriormente procurou-se validar empiricamente o modelo proposto, formulando instrumentos para avaliação das variáveis em estudo e realizando uma investigação em que participaram algumas centenas de professores, a qual permitiu demonstrar o sentido empírico do modelo. Desta forma, o modelo proposto e validado pode servir de suporte teórico para fundamentar algumas estratégias de formação que podem ser usadas para promover a motivação e o bem-estar profissional, em particular dos professores. Terminamos apontando para futuras linhas de investigação em que, noutros domínios de realização, nomeadamente alunos em contexto escolar, a motivação pode ser prevista e incentivada

Swept-source OCTA quantification of capillary closure predicts ETDRS severity staging of NPDR

To test whether a single or composite set of parameters evaluated with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), representing retinal capillary closure, can predict non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) staging according to the gold standard ETDRS grading scheme. 105 patients with diabetes, either without retinopathy or with different degrees of retinopathy (NPDR up to ETDRS grade 53), were prospectively evaluated using swept-source OCTA (SS-OCTA, PlexElite, Carl Zeiss Meditec) with 15×9 mm and 3×3 mm angiography protocols. Seven-field photographs of the fundus were obtained for ETDRS staging. Eyes from age-matched healthy subjects were also imaged as control. In eyes of patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy or ETDRS levels 20 and 35, retinal capillary closure was in the macular area, with predominant alterations in the parafoveal retinal circulation (inner ring). Retinal capillary closure in ETDRS stages 43-53 becomes predominant in the retinal midperiphery with vessel density average values of 25.2±7.9 (p=0.001) in ETDRS 43 and 23.5±3.4 (p=0.001) in ETDRS 47-53, when evaluating extended areas of 15×9 protocol. Combination of acquisition protocols 3×3 mm and 15×9 mm, using SS-OCTA, allows discrimination between eyes with mild NPDR (ETDRS 10, 20, 35) and eyes with moderate-to-severe NPDR (ETDRS grades 43-53). Retinal capillary closure, quantified by SS-OCTA, can identify NPDR severity progression. It is located mainly in the perifoveal retinal capillary circulation in the initial stages of NPDR, whereas the retinal midperiphery is predominantly affected in moderate-to-severe NPDR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of different antioxidant agents on the microtensile bond strength of restored teeth after bleaching

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Alendronic acid as ionic liquid: New perspective on osteosarcoma

This work was supported by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry LAQV which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/50006/2020). The authors also thank Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia for the projects PTDC/QUI-QOR/32406/2017, PEst-C/LA0006/2013 and RECI/BBBBQB/0230/2012), as well as one contract under Investigador FCT (L. C. Branco).Herein the quantitative synthesis of eight new mono-and dianionic Organic Salts and Ionic Liquids (OSILs) from alendronic acid (ALN) is reported by following two distinct sustainable and straightforward methodologies, according to the type of cation. The prepared ALN-OSILs were characterized by spectroscopic techniques and their solubility in water and biological fluids was determined. An evaluation of the toxicity towards human healthy cells and also human breast, lung and bone (osteosarcoma) cell lines was performed. Globally, it was observed that the monoanionic OSILs showed lower toxicity than the corresponding dianionic structures to all cell types. The highest cytotoxic effect was observed in OSILs containing a [C2OHMIM] cation, in particular [C2OHMIM][ALN]. The latter showed an improvement in IC50 values of ca. three orders of magnitude for the lung and bone cancer cell lines as well as fibroblasts in comparison with ALN. The development of OSILs with high cytotoxicity effect towards the tested cancer cell types, and containing an anti-resorbing molecule such as ALN may represent a promising strategy for the development of new pharmacological tools to be used in those pathological conditions.publishersversionpublishe

Patterns and drivers of rodent abundance across a South African multi-use landscape

Funding: This research was funded by FCT/MCTES, through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 (cE3c: UIDB/00329/2020), and by the South African National Research Foundation, South Africa (UID 107099&115040). TAM thanks partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UIDB/00006/2020).South Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of available habitat, however it is crucial to understand how distinct management priorities and associated landscape modifications impact noncharismatic taxa, such as small mammals. We conducted extensive ink-tracking-tunnel surveys to estimate heterogeneity in rodent distribution and investigate the effect of different environmental factors on abundance patterns of two size-based rodent groups (small-and medium-sized species), across three adjacent management contexts in NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a private ecotourism game reserve, mixed farms and traditional communal areas (consisting of small clusters of houses interspersed with grazing areas and seminatural vegetation). Our hypotheses were formulated regarding the (1) area typology, (2) vegetation structure, (3) ungulate pressure and (4) human disturbance. Using a boosted-regression-tree approach, we found considerable differences between rodent groups’ abundance and distribution, and the underlying environmental factors. The mean relative abundance of medium-sized species did not differ across the three management contexts, but small species mean relative abundance was higher in the game reserves, confirming an influence of the area typology on their abundance. Variation in rodent relative abundance was negatively correlated with human disturbance and ungulate presence. Rodent abundance seems to be influenced by environmental gradients that are directly linked to varying management priorities across land uses, meaning that these communities might not benefit uniformly by the increased amount of habitat promoted by the commercial wildlife industry.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Classical engineering education coping with engineering profession demands

The present world scenario shows that without any doubt there is an increasing recognition that leadership in technological innovation is key to the nation’s prosperity and security in a hypercompetitive, global, knowledge-driven economy. Universities must cope with this need and change to reach the levels of required quality education in order to form the professional who will leave university to the work market. The Engineering Education Team of COPEC – Science and Education Research Council has designed this program that is knowledge centered and specially challenging, which integrates classical engineering approaches and real experience in order to achieve a high level of engineers ready to perform as professionals or researchers. The goal is to form the Engineer – a professional that is capable to learn for life and be creative in many ways.This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme – COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-010145-FEDER-007136 and project UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of an antioxidant on the microtensile bond strength (µTBS) of restored teeth after dental bleaching

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Association of eNOS gene polymorphisms with renal disease in Caucasians with type 2 diabetes

AbstractAimIn this study we investigated if the −786T>C, the VNTR intron 4 a/b and the 894G>T (Glu298Asp) polymorphisms in the eNOS gene were associated with renal disease in 617 type 2 diabetic Caucasian-Brazilians. These polymorphisms were also examined in 100 Caucasian healthy blood donors.MethodsGenotyping of eNOS polymorphisms was performed by PCR or PCR-RFLP and haplotype frequencies were estimated using a Bayesian method. Logistic regression analysis was done to test for association of eNOS polymorphisms with susceptibility to renal involvement (microalbuminuria, macroalbuminuria or end-stage renal disease). This analysis was carried out assuming three diferent genetic models for the minor allele, adjusting for possible effect modifiers.ResultsGenotype and allele frequencies in patients with renal disease were not significantly different from those of patients with normoalbuminuria and healthy blood donors for all eNOS polymorphisms. Likewise, there were no differences in haplotype frequencies among healthy blood donors and type 2 diabetic patients with or without renal involvement (P>0.05 for all comparisons).ConclusionNo associations between the −786T>C, the VNTR intron 4 a/b and the 894G>T (Glu298Asp) polymorphisms in the eNOS gene and renal disease were observed in type 2 diabetic Caucasian-Brazilians