Global supply chains of high value low volume products

Imperial Users onl

Tax dividend evaluation of major urban renewal projects

This paper proposes a parsimonious methodology to evaluate the impact of large urban renewal projects on public revenues. The impact is largely endogenous, external to projects and may encompass a broad range of instruments, ranging from local to regional to central governments. We look at licence fees, user charges, piggyback levies, excise taxes, social security contributions, and taxation of property, corporate income, personal income, and sales or value added. All these revenues are labelled tax dividends for short. The evaluation of a project?s tax dividends may help governments on their licensing and, above all, on their co-financing decisions. However, the need for rigorous financial evaluations faces too many difficulties in practice, from modelling complexity to information shortages to time constraints to bureaucratic obstruction. The methodology in this paper aims precisely at delivering feasible, fast and reasonably sound assessments that can be computed before or after the projects? accomplishment. Revenue changes spring from the economic effects of renewal projects, which differ across space and time. Spatial effects are not restricted to the renewal site. Very often, they spill over to neighbouring city areas, and may also include region and nationwide outcomes. Most on-site effects are internalised by the developer but generate tax dividends too. The renewal project can also bring important benefits to adjacent city areas, because it either reduces a negative externality?pollution or crime, for example?or creates a positive externality?such as widely appraised amenities?for agents located therein. In the case of really large renewal projects, there may also be non-local effects to account for. In fact, the project?s own expenditure is likely to leak into regional and national suppliers, triggering macroeconomic consequences. Economic effects differ also on time, being temporary or permanent. The former come out of resource acquisition by the developer, and may include expenditure on planning, compulsory purchases, decontamination, demolition, and construction. Permanent effects on output occur because these projects increase the real value of capital in the economy. Real estate rents, on site and on neighbouring areas, capitalise the social net benefits of the renewal project. Hence, temporary effects are spatially diffuse and expand the economy in the short run. The methodology includes a tailored Mundell-Fleming design to quantify these effects. Permanent outcomes expand potential output, are normally restricted to an urban subspace and are quantifiable out of differential rents. The methodology is easily customisable to particular projects. As an example, we include an application to the large ongoing renewal project in Eastern Lisbon, Portugal, triggered by the 1998 world exhibition?Expo?98. Frequently, major renewal projects are prompted by a highly visible event, such as this exhibition or the Olympics. The event itself is likely to cause temporary effects, for example through its impact on the tourism sector? which is likely to boost within the city and its region. Our application shows also how to plug these effects into the analysis.

Análise comportamental multi-nível de Botnets

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaNowadays, computer networks are, more than ever, major targets of security attacks. These attacks became very complex, and with different kinds of motivations. A major part of the network attacks is linked to Botnets. Botnets can be described as a group of bots that run malicious software autonomously. They mainly infect personal computers, and start performing automatic tasks, without the awareness of the users. Computers then become “part” of the Botnet. This dissertation will describe and analyse different types of spam Botnets, by installing them, capturing the generated traffic and characterizing it, in order to identify differentiating characteristics that can be used to detect their activity. Different levels of analysis are conducted, in order to understand all the functioning mechanisms of these types of networks.Hoje em dia, as redes de computadores têm sido, mais do que nunca, alvo de ataques de segurança. Estes ataques tornaram-se bastante complexos, e com diferentes tipos de motivações. Uma grande parte destes ataques está ligado a Botnets. As Botnets podem ser descritas como um grupo de bots que executam software malicioso autonomamente. Infectam maioritariamente computadores pessoais, e começam a executar tarefas automáticamente, sem o conhecimento dos utilizadores. Os computadores tornamse então “parte” da Botnet. Nesta dissertação, são descritos e analisados diferentes tipos de Botnets dedicadas ao envio de spam. Após serem instaladas, o tráfego gerado é capturado, processado e analisado, por forma a identificar características que possam diferenciar cada um dos tipos de Botnets. São efectuados diferentes níveis de análise, de forma a compreender todos os mecanismos de funcionamento destes tipos de redes

a proxy SVAR approach

many distinct information dimensions are systematically assimilated. Wielding the zero lower bound, I isolate non-standard measures from conventional monetary policy, ineffective since 2016. Transforming these into an external instrument for a SVAR Model, I conclude that expanding the overall central bank’s balance sheet increases consumer prices while production may remain unaffected. I find that both the exchange rate and long term yields depress as a result. Notwithstanding, credit conditions do not benefit from this. Finally, both equity returns and expectations fall whereas market volatility rises

Agent based prototype for interoperation of production planning and control and manufacturing automation

This work describes a model for distributed dynamic Production Planning and Control (PPC) agent based system, which includes interoperation with manufacturing automation. It is presented a demonstration prototype involving distributed software agents and industrial equipment integration, which implements part of the developed model functionalities. Clients can send orders, and resources may apply for those orders fulfilment. Resources with orders allocated to, start automatically the required manufacturing operations. The prototype was implemented integrating several tools, including Lab VIEW and LEGO Mindstorms components. This is useful to validate the integration, proposed by the dynamic PPC model, between production planning processes and manufacturing execution operations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Detecting translingual plagiarism and the backlash against translation plagiarists

Os métodos de detecção de plágio registaram melhorias significativas ao longo das últimas décadas e, decorrente da investigação avançada realizada por linguistas computacionais e, sobretudo, por linguistas forenses, é, agora, maisfácil identiVcar estratégias de reutilização de texto simples e soVsticadas. Especificamente, simples algoritmos de comparação de texto criados por linguistas computacionais permitem detectar fácil e (semi-)automaticamente plágio literal,ipsis verbis (i.e. que consiste na reutilização de trechos de texto idênticos em diferentes documentos) como é o caso do Turnitin ou o SafeAssign , embora o desempenho destes métodos tenha tendência a piorar quando a reutilizaçãoé disfarçada através da introdução de alterações ao texto original. Neste caso, são necessárias técnicas linguísticas mais soVsticadas, como a análise de sobreposição lexical (Johnson, 1997), para detectar a reutilização. Contudo, estastécnicas são de aplicação muito limitada em casos de plágio translingue, em que determinado texto é traduzido e reutilizado sem atribuição da autoria ao texto original, proveniente de outra língua. Considerando que (a) normalmente,a tradução amadora (e.g. tradução literal ou tradução automática gratuita) é ométodo utilizado para plagiar; (b) é comum os plagiadores fazerem alterações aotexto, nomeadamente gramaticais e sintácticas, sobretudo após a tradução automática;e (c) os elementos lexicais são aqueles que a tradução automática processamais correctamente, antes da sua reutilização no texto derivado, este artigopropõe um método de detecção de plágio translingue informado pelas teorias datradução e da interlíngua (Selinker, 1972; Bassnett and Lefevere, 1998), bem comopelo princípio de singularidade linguística (Coulthard, 2004). Recorrendo a dadosempíricos do corpus CorRUPT (Corpus of Reused and Plagiarised Texts),um corpus de textos académicos e não académicos reais, que foram investigadose acusados de plagiar textos originais noutras línguas, demonstra-se a utilidadeda metodologia proposta para a detecção de plágio translingue. Finalmente,discute-se possíveis aplicações deste método como ferramenta de investigação emcontextos forenses.Plagiarism detection methods have improved signiVcantly over thelast decades, and as a result of the advanced research conducted by computationaland mostly forensic linguists, simple and sophisticated textual borrowingstrategies can now be identiVed more easily. In particular, simple text comparisonalgorithms developed by computational linguists allow literal, word-for-wordplagiarism (i.e. where identical strings of text are reused across diUerent documents)to be easily detected (semi-)automatically (e.g. Turnitin or SafeAssign),although these methods tend to perform less well when the borrowing is obfuscatedby introducing edits to the original text. In this case, more sophisticatedlinguistic techniques, such as an analysis of lexical overlap (Johnson, 1997), arerequired to detect the borrowing. However, these have limited applicability incases of translingual plagiarism, where a text is translated and borrowed withoutacknowledgment from an original in another language. Considering that(a) traditionally non-professional translation (e.g. literal or free machine translation)is the method used to plagiarise; (b) the plagiarist usually edits the textfor grammar and syntax, especially when machine-translated; and (c) lexicalitems are those that tend to be translated more correctly, and carried over to thederivative text, this paper proposes a method for translingual plagiarism detectionthat is grounded on translation and interlanguage theories (Selinker, 1972;Bassnett and Lefevere, 1998), as well as on the principle of linguistic uniqueness(Coulthard, 2004). Empirical evidence from the CorRUPT corpus (Corpus ofReused and Plagiarised Texts), a corpus of real academic and non-academic textsthat were investigated and accused of plagiarising originals in other languages, isused to illustrate the applicability of the methodology proposed for translingualplagiarism detection. Finally, applications of the method as an investigative toolin forensic contexts are discussed

The interface between marketing and manufacturing: a strategic and a functional perspective

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Thermal performance of light blocks in a Mediterranean climate

The challenge of reducing energy consumption in buildings is fundamental for the near future, considering the impact of buildings in the overall energy demands. Mediterranean regions have a mild heating season and a hot and dry winter. Its climate is characterized by plentiful solar radiation all along the year and large daily range of temperature during the summer. Thermal inertia and insulation material properties can act in a different way along the day and the year, and the better solution for the summer can be the worst solution for the cooling season. Masonry walls that define the boundary between the interior and exterior are one of the most important components of buildings mainly for energy efficiency. Despite being one of the most common and ancient building materials, it is possible to improve its performance working in units, mortars and finishes. This work aims at studying the effect of materials with different thermal insulation and thermal mass on thermal comfort and energy savings of three types of buildings, two single-family houses and one apartment, in a Mediterranean climate. Thermal behavior of traditional and light solutions is compared and it is found that thermal comfort is similar but light solutions present lower energy consumptions for the three studied house topologies. Otherwise, this study shows that housing topology has more influence namely, when comparing energy needs

Aspetos da fase de conceção a atender nos projetos de reabilitação de edifícios antigos

Prevê-se que aumente em Portugal a reabilitação de edifícios antigos existentes nos centros urbanos históricos. Face ao número de edifícios antigos existentes e com necessidades de reparação essa atividade fomenta a possibilidade de reutilização de recursos existentes, mas também a revitalização de zonas já consolidadas, contribuindo para alavancar a economia local. É possível intervir nestes edifícios com práticas de gestão mais sustentáveis e que proporcionem melhores condições de conforto. Contudo na fase de conceção é possível agregar diversos aspetos que auxiliam a gestão e tomadas de decisão no processo. Embora parte destes aspetos não sejam exigíveis regulamentarmente, a sua implementação resulta em benefícios económicos e ambientais para a fase de utilização/exploração. São exemplo desses aspetos o aproveitamento e reutilização de águas, produção de energia elétrica, aquecimento de águas via coletores solares, eficiência energética, implementação de soluções bioclimáticas, entre outras. Este artigo baseia-se em parte do estudo de um doutoramento onde se desenvolveu uma metodologia de gestão a aplicar em projetos de reabilitação de edifícios antigos. A metodologia está dividida em diversas áreas temáticas, nomeadamente “envolvente e localização”, “conceção”, “execução e estaleiro” e “custos”, agregando um total de 50 subindicadores, e contribuindo em conjunto para auxiliar diversos intervenientes nas tomadas de decisão ligadas à reabilitação de edifícios antigos. São divulgados os aspetos temáticos da metodologia de gestão, com especial destaque para os da área de “conceção”, bem como uma possível graduação que relaciona práticas mais e menos sustentáveis, com as práticas utilizadas de forma corrente ou convencional. Os resultados obtidos demonstram reconhecimento do interesse na aplicação destes aspetos aquando do desenvolvimento de projetos de reabilitação de edifícios antigos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio