Dynamic monitoring of key-performance indicators in industrial environments

Manufacturing companies generate huge amounts of relevant data that, potentially, can help the decision makers to monitor and supervise the health status of the shop-floor. Many problems are present that prevent this monitoring, namely the identification of which data should be collected, how to execute this collection or how this data should be analysed and displayed to the user. This paper deals with the last issue, where a dynamic and responsive User Interface is developed enabling the decision maker, having an in-the-mesh intervention, to constantly monitor relevant Key-Performance Indicators (KPI). The paper describes the development of such tool, considering a web-based approach under a platform agnostic perspective. The user interface presents an dynamic view over the aggregated KPI, where data is annotated with relevant warning information.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Estratégia Competitiva da Universidade Comunitária Regional de Chapecó: UNOCHAPECÓ

Verificou-se que a partir da promulgação da nova constituição federal em 1988 e a posterior aprovação da nova LDB - Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação em 1996, ocorreu um expressivo aumento no número de instituições de ensino superior atuando em todo Brasil, o que tem provocado uma mudança no cenário competitivo nesta área, principalmente com o acirramento da competição entre as instituições. Com isso surge um novo desafio para as Universidades Comunitárias Brasileiras, qual seja, adotar estratégias competitivas para continuar a atrair e manter alunos. Diante deste fato, o presente trabalho teve como tema a análise da estratégia competitiva da Universidade Comunitária Regional de Chapecó UNOHAPECÓ e como principais objetivos, verificar os impactos decorrentes do aumento da competição, identificar qual tem sido o seu posicionamento e ainda caracterizar a sua estratégia competitiva, de forma a oferecer subsídios para a formulação de estratégias competitivas por este tipo de universidade. Os dados foram obtidos a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica, de pesquisa documental e de entrevistas estruturadas com os principais dirigentes dessa instituição, escolhidos de forma não probabilística e intencional, num total de vinte e uma entrevistas. Como resultado da análise, verificou-se que o principal impacto desse aumento tem sido a queda na demanda. Diante disto a UNOCHAPECÓ tem adotado um posicionamento meio termo em relação ao aumento da concorrência, implementado tanto estratégias ofensivas como defensivas. A sua estratégia competitiva foi caracterizada como uma estratégia de diferenciação com um escopo estratégico amplo, segundo o modelo de Porter 1986

The Fractal Nature of Wood Revealed by Water Absorption

We use a simple experimental procedure of pressurized water absorption to show the fractal nature of the pore space in wood. Cubic blocks of wood were immersed in water at a given pressure for 14 days, and mass changes were measured. The plots of the mass changes versus block edge sizes are straight lines whose slopes correspond to the fractal dimensions of the void volume in wood. Results for different species and for distinct water pressures are shown, suggesting the fractal dimension as a new relevant parameter to characterize the porosity of wood

A Framework for the Design and Implementation of Learning Objects: a Competence-based Approach

This paper presents a framework for the design and implementation of learning objects using a competence-based approach. This framework is illustrated by the development of a standalone Windows application (Trilho GOA) whose primary purpose is to create standardized pedagogical contents trough the aggregation and standardization of instructional resources in several formats that can be used later on a Learning Management System (LMS) supporting SCORM 1.2. The paper contains a brief introduction to the developed software, its system architecture, main features and several pedagogical advantages for its users

Multiagent system integrating process and quality control in a factory producing laundry washing machines

Manufacturing companies are currently forced to reconsider their production processes by adopting more flexible, robust, and adaptive systems, aiming to improve their competitiveness. Multiagent systems (MASs) technology is suitable to address this challenge by providing an alternative way to design these complex systems based on the decentralization of the control functions over distributed entities. This paper describes the installation of a MAS solution in an industrial factory plant producing laundry washing machines. The installed solution focuses on the integration of quality and process control, and contributes to the maximization of the factory profitability facing changing conditions by applying self-adaptation procedures at the local and global levels. The preliminary results show improvements in the production efficiency and product quality, as well as a reduction of the scrap costs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UAV data modeling for geoinformation update

A dissertação visa avaliar a relevância e o desempenho dos dados obtidos por Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (VANT) na atualização de Geoinformação. Os dados obtidos por VANT serão utilizados quer em conjunto com outros dados – obtidos por plataformas tradicionais de deteção remota –, quer isoladamente, recorrendo à técnica de Structure from Motion (SfM), para gerar o modelo digital de superfície e os ortomosaicos de alta precisão em diferentes momentos. Para a avaliação da precisão dos dados, os modelos digitais de terreno serão comparados. Por outro lado, os dados e informação gerados permitirão atualizar Geoinformação e quantificar as mudanças ocorridas no uso e ocupação do solo. Os resultados irão alimentar a discussão crítica da ação antrópica nos aglomerados urbanos e as propostas de intervenção.The dissertation aims to assess the relevance and performance of data obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in updating Geoinformation. The data obtained by UAVs will be used either in conjunction with other data – obtained by traditional remote sensing platforms – or on its own, using the Structure from Motion (SfM) technique, to generate high-precision digital surface models and orthomosaics at different times. For the accuracy assessment of the data, the digital terrain models will be compared. On the other hand, the data and information generated will make it possible to update Geoinformation and quantify changes in land use and occupation. The results will feed the critical discussion of anthropic action in urban areas and intervention proposals

O impacto da inteligência artificial no negócio eletrónico

Pela importância que a Inteligência Artificial exibe na atualidade, revela-se de grande interesse verificar até que ponto ela está a transformar o Negócio Eletrónico. Para esse efeito, delineou-se uma revisão sistemática com o objetivo de avaliar os impactos da proliferação destes instrumentos. A investigação empreendida pretendeu identificar artigos científicos que, através de pesquisas realizadas a Fontes de Dados Eletrónicas, pudessem responder às questões de investigação implementadas: a) que tipo de soluções, baseadas na Inteligência Artificial (IA), têm sido usadas para melhorar o Negócio Eletrónico (NE); b) em que domínios do NE a IA foi aplicada; c) qual a taxa de sucesso ou fracasso do projeto. Simultaneamente, tiveram de respeitar critérios de seleção, nomeadamente, estar escritos em inglês, encontrarem-se no intervalo temporal 2015/2021 e tratar-se de estudos empíricos, suportados em dados reais. Após uma avaliação de qualidade final, procedeu-se à extração dos dados pertinentes para a investigação, para formulários criados em MS Excel. Estes dados estiveram na base da análise quantitativa e qualitativa que evidenciaram as descobertas feitas e sobre os quais se procedeu, posteriormente, à sua discussão. A dissertação termina com as conclusão e discussão de trabalhos futuros.Due to the importance that Artificial Intelligence exhibits today, it is of great interest to see to what extent it is transforming the Electronic Business. To this end, a systematic review was designed to evaluate the impacts of the proliferation of these instruments. The research aimed to identify scientific articles that, through research carried out on Electronic Data Sources, could answer the research questions implemented: a) what kind of solutions, based on Artificial Intelligence, have been used to improve the Electronic Business; b) in which areas of the Electronic Business Artificial Intelligence has been applied; c) what the success rate or failure of the project is. At the same time, they must comply with selection criteria, to be written in English, to be found in the 2015/2021-time interval and to be empirical studies supported by actual data. After a final quality evaluation, the relevant data for the investigation were extracted for forms created in MS Excel. These data were the basis of the quantitative and qualitative analysis that evidenced the findings found and on which they were subsequently discussed. The dissertation ends with the conclusion and discussion of future works

Intelligent products: the grace experience

Product intelligence is a new industrial manufacturing control paradigm aligned with the context of cyber-physical systems and addressing the current requirements of flexibility, reconfigurability and responsiveness. This paradigm introduces benefits in terms of improvement of the entire product׳s life-cycle, and particularly the product quality and customization, aiming the customer satisfaction. This paper presents an implementation of a system of intelligent products, developed under the scope of the GRACE project, where an agent-based solution was deployed in a factory plant producing laundry washing machines. The achieved results show an increase of the production and energy efficiency, an increase of the product quality and customization, as well as a reduction of the scrap costs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

GRACE ontology integrating process and quality control

Multi-agent systems paradigm is a suitable approach to implement distributed manufacturing systems addressing the emergent requirements of flexibility, robustness and responsiveness. In such systems, an ontology is a crucial piece to provide a common understanding on the vocabulary used by the intelligent, distributed agents during the exchange of shared knowledge. This paper describes the design of an ontology to define the structure of the knowledge that is used within a multi-agent system integrating process and quality control in production lines for home appliances, which is being developed within the EU FP7 GRACE (inteGration of pRocess and quAlity Control using multi-agEnt technology) project. The ontology schema is validated by instantiating for a case study derived from a washing machines production line

Specification of the PERFoRM architecture for the seamless production system reconfiguration

The world is assisting to the fourth industrial revolution, with several domains of science and technology being strongly developed and, specially, being integrated with each other, allowing to build evolvable complex systems. Data digitization, big-data analysis, distributed control, Industrial Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems and self-organization, amongst others, are playing an important role in this journey. This paper considers the best practices from previous successful European projects addressing distributed control systems to develop an innovative architecture that can be industrially deployed. For this purpose, a particular design process has to be addressed in order to consider the requirements and functionalities from various use cases. To investigate the known practices, four use cases are enlighted in this paper, which cover a wide spectrum of the European industrial force, as well as industrial standards to support a smooth migration from traditional systems to the emergent distributed systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio