An axiomatic design framework to design interoperable buyer–supplier dyads

Cooperation arrangements in the form of buyer–supplier dyads are a way that companies have found to deal with the current competitive environment. Despite the contributions in the interoperability literature, a cohesive framework is lacking that would allow the systematization of solutions for interoperable problems in such cooperation. Therefore, we propose a framework for systematically detail interoperability issues and to provide solutions that fit business conditions.Through a case study conducted on an automotive dyad, it is possible to achieve a better interoperable scenario, by systematically addressing the issues and providing solutions that comply with the AD independence axiom.authorsversionpublishe

Redesigning a Manufacturing System Based on Functional Independence: The Case of a Tree Nursery

AbstractThe engineering of manufacturing systems encompasses two main areas of development: the manufacturing process (manufacturing technologies, and flow and handling of materials), and the production management (flow of information - signals). These two areas must be designed to perform according to the expressed needs. This paper shows that the Axiomatic Design (AD) theory can be used to analyse a manufacturing system to find the origin of the lack of productivity, and, subsequently, to redesign a solution avoiding the weakness points. A case study of a tree nursery of a large wood production enterprise was used to show the application of the axiomatic design principles, particularly through analysing the design equation and including new design parameters with the independence in mind. The redesign solution based on the independence of functions promoted the simplification of the information (signals) flow, avoiding the identification of each production element, and avoiding errors, which increases the productivity and the production volume, by elimination of waste of time in production operations. The proposed solution brought results that encourage the application of AD to increment the productivity of manufacturing systems, in alternative to expensive investments

Reabilitação energética de um edifício de grande escala: caso prático

Este projecto pretende apresentar um conjunto de soluções no âmbito da reabilitação energética, especificamente num edifício que se desenvolve em altura. Este desafio surge aliado ao facto de no presente ano, o mesmo do desenvolvimento deste trabalho, o seu autor se encontrar a residir em Madrid ao abrigo do programa Erasmus, onde pôde aprofundar os conhecimentos relativos à construção sustentável. A mesma cidade que lhe proporcionou adquirir estes conhecimentos simultaneamente o inquieta, visto que é constituída maioritariamente por edifícios de grande escala que consomem enormes quantidades de energia. Por esta razão, e como contributo para a cidade e para o planeta, decidiu projectar a reabilitação energética de uma das torres mais emblemáticas da cidade, a sede do BBVA do Arquitecto Francisco Oíza. A escolha deste edifício deve-se à grande admiração que nutre pelo arquitecto Oíza, e essencialmente à proximidade da sua residência com o referido edifício, que lhe permitiu analisar dia a dia todos os pormenores. O grande objectivo deste projecto é demonstrar que através de estratégias quer sejam elas passivas, activas ou combinadas é possível diminuir consideravelmente o consumo energético e ao mesmo tempo as emissões dos gases efeito de estufa deste tipo de edifícios. Procura-se também mostrar, através deste trabalho de reabilitação energética, a possibilidade de combinar e integrar sistemas em edifícios já existentes sem afectar a sua arquitectura inicial bem como as suas funções

Efeitos no investimento das depreciações arbitrárias : utlização e efeitos

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças EmpresariaisO trabalho estuda os efeitos no investimento da mudança de escalão das depreciações arbitrárias, de 199,52 para 1000, introduzida pelo decreto-lei nº 159/2009, de 13 de julho, assim como que tipo de empresas mais aproveitaram esta alteração. Baseámos a análise num estudo apresentado por Wielhouwer e Wiersma (2013) sobre o tema: utilização de taxas de depreciação arbitrárias para estimular o investimento, que os autores realizaram por referência à realidade holandesa, do período de 2009 a 2011. A amostra do nosso estudo é constituída por 44 empresas clientes de um gabinete de contabilidade com sede no concelho de Lisboa, incidindo sobre os anos de 2010 a 2012. À semelhança daqueles autores, concluímos que a medida teve uma influência positiva, ainda que ténue, no aumento do investimento abrangido pela discricionariedade das depreciações, sem que isso tivesse afetado o nível de investimento nos demais bens. Por outro lado, em linha com os mesmos autores, observámos, também, que as empresas com maior capacidade financeira foram as que mais investiram em bens abrangidos pela discricionariedade de depreciações e as que registaram prejuízos as que menos investiram nesses bens. Contrariamente às conclusões dos mesmos autores, não encontrámos evidência que as empresas do setor industrial tivessem incrementado o investimento em bens abrangidos pela medida e que a existência de prejuízos reportáveis fiscalmente tivesse desincentivado o investimento nesses bens.We based our analysis in a study presented by Wielhouwer and Wiersma (2013) about the subject: arbitrary tax depreciation to stimulate investments: utilization and effects, encompassing 325 Dutch companies that were clients of an accounting firm (WEA Accountants & Advisers Noord-Holland), from 2009 - 2011. Our sample was collected from 44 clients of an accounting firm located in the District of Lisbon, covering the period from 2010 to 2012. These are small and medium companies, which are fundamentally a reflection of the composition of our Portuguese business. Like those authors, we concluded that the measure had a positive influence, however slight, in increasing assets covered by the discretion of depreciation, resulting that larger firms, with positive net income and higher cash flows were the most that used the facility and those that suffered losses less used. Contrary to the findings the same authours, we did not find any evidence that industrial firms have increased investments in assets covered by the measure and the existence of a loss carry forward has been influenced on the investment of those assets

Context-based multi-agent recommender system, supported on IoT, for guiding the occupants of a building in case of a fire

The evacuation of buildings in case of fire is a sensitive issue for civil society that also motivates the academic community to develop and study solutions to improve the efficiency of evacuating these spaces. The study of human behavior in fire emergencies has been one of the areas that have deserved the attention of researchers. However, this modeling of human behavior is difficult and complex because it depends on factors that are difficult to know and that vary from country to country. In this paper, a paradigm shift is proposed which, instead of focusing on modeling the behavior of occupants, focuses on conditioning this behavior by providing real-time information on the most efficient evacuation routes. Making this information available to occupants is possible with a solution that takes advantage of the growing use of the IoT (Internet of Things) in buildings to help occupants adapt to the environment. Supported by the IoT, multi-agent recommender systems can help users to adapt to the environment and provide the occupants with the most efficient evacuation routes. This paradigm shift is achieved through a context-based multi-agent recommender system based on contextual data obtained from IoT devices, which recommends the most efficient evacuation routes at any given time. The obtained results suggest that the proposed solution can improve the efficiency of evacuating buildings in the event of a fire; for a scenario with two hundred people following the system recommendations, the time they take to reach a safe place decreases by 17.7%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An ontological model for fire evacuation route recommendation in buildings

Guiding the occupants of a building to a safe place is an area of research that deserves the attention of researchers. Finding solutions for the problem of guiding the building occupants requires a perfect knowledge of the fire building evacuation domain. The use of ontologies to model the knowledge of a domain allows a common and shared understanding of that domain. This paper presents an ontology that has the purpose to deepen the understanding of that domain and help develop building evacuation solutions and systems capable of guiding the occupants during a building evacuation process. The proposed ontology considers the different variables and actors involved in the fire building evacuation process. The ontology development followed the Methontology methodology, and for implementation, the Protégé tool was used. The ontological model was successfully submitted to a thorough evaluation process and is publicly available on the Web.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An ontology for fire building evacuation

Guiding the building occupants under fire emergency to a safe place is an open research problem, and finding solutions to address the problem requires a perfect knowledge of the fire building evacuation domain. The use of ontologies to model knowledge of a domain allows a common and shared understanding of that domain, between people and heterogeneous systems. This paper presents an ontology that aims to build a knowledge model to understand the referred domain better and help develop more capable building evacuation solutions and systems. The herein proposed ontology considers the different variables and actors involved in the fire building evacuation process. We followed the Methontology methodology for its developing, and we present all the development steps, from the specification to its implementation with the Protégé tool.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Feiras de atividades em ciências para a educação pré-escolar concretizadas na Escola Superior de Educação e Comunicação da Universidade do Algarve

Comunicação apresentada no XV Encontro Nacional de Educação em Ciências (XV ENEC 2014), dedicado ao tema "Tendências atuais em educação em ciências".Em 2006, as alunas da licenciatura em Educação de Infância da ESEC – Universidade do Algarve, que frequentavam a unidade curricular (UC) anual de Atividades e Recursos em Ciências, organizaram, no âmbito da UC, a primeira feira de atividades em ciências dirigida a crianças dos jardins de infância

Computer simulations of silicide-tetrahedrite thermoelectric generators

With global warming and rising energy demands, it is important now than ever to transit to renewable energy systems. Thermoelectric (TE) devices can present a feasible alternative to generate clean energy from waste heat. However, to become attractive for large-scale applications, such devices must be cheap, efficient, and based on ecofriendly materials. In this study, the potential of novel silicide-tetrahedrite modules for energy generation was examined. Computer simulations based on the finite element method (FEM) and implicit finite difference method (IFDM) were performed. The developed computational models were validated against data measured on a customized system working with commercial TE devices. The models were capable of predicting the TEGs’ behavior with low deviations (≤10%). IFDM was used to study the power produced by the silicide-tetrahedrite TEGs for different ΔT between the sinks, whereas FEM was used to study the temperature distributions across the testing system in detail. To complement these results, the influence of the electrical and thermal contact resistances was evaluated. High thermal resistances were found to affect the devices ΔT up to ~15%, whereas high electrical contact resistances reduced the power output of the silicide-tetrahedrite TEGs by more than ~85%.This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the contracts UID/Multi/04349/2020 and UI/BD/150713/2020. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and European Regional Development Fund, for funding under the PDI2021-126926OB-C22 research project