An agile and adaptive holonic architecture for manufacturing control

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. 2004. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Port

As TIC para um País Competente. From the Information Society to the Creative Society

As mudanças estruturais nos processos de desenvolvimento sócio-económico, com consequentes implicações no crescimento económico, na coesão social e territorial, bem como na qualidade da democracia, desaguam, actualmente, numa sociedade caracterizada pela importância crescente dos recursos cognitivos, pelo avanço constante das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) e pela consequente alteração da vivência das pessoas e das próprias empresas e instituições. Esta sociedade é geralmente apelidada de Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento, sendo patente uma certa evolução para aquilo que poderemos designar por Sociedade Criativa, o que pressupõe uma capacidade acrescida de aprendizagem e inovação, quer para os indivíduos quer para as instituições. A reflexão estratégica apresentada neste trabalho tem como objectivo a tentativa de compreender o impacte das TIC nestas questões, tendo em conta, como pano de fundo, as infra-estruturas e a criação de conhecimento em si mesmo (entendendo portanto as TIC como um meio e não como um fim). No presente documento o conceito de rede é abordado em várias ocasiões e está implícito em todas as propostas: faz-se referência à organização do espaço em rede como forma de desenvolvimento sectorial e/ou territorial, às redes sociais e económicas numa determinada região, às redes de relações emergentes no interior dos principais núcleos urbanos, e às redes de parcerias governamentais em contraposição a modelos hierárquicos de estruturação dos governos. A rede constitui, portanto, um mecanismo de activação e coordenação alternativo, e não intermédio, a mercados e hierarquias. 3. Ao longo dos últimos anos, muitos têm sido os resultados de reflexões semelhantes1. Assim, integra-se a reflexão apresentada no recente documento de estratégia LigarPortugal e tenta-se não repetir o que já foi dito e reconhecido como importante nesta matéria, mas antes compreender como é que tais objectivos podem ser levados à prática de forma mais eficiente e eficaz.The structural changes in the processes of socio-economic development, with consequent implications for economic growth, social and territorial cohesion, and the quality of democracy, currently flow into a society characterized by the growing importance of cognitive resources, the constant advancement of technology information and communication technology (ICT) and the consequent change in the people's, the firms' and institutions' lives. This society is often dubbed the Information Society and Knowledge, being a patent for a certain change what we called the Creative Society, which implies an increased capacity for learning and innovation, both for individuals and for institutions. The strategic analysis presented in this paper aims to understand the impact of ICT on these issues, taking into account the background, infrastructure and creation of knowledge itself (thus understanding ICT as a means and not as an end). In this paper the concept of network is discussed on several occasions and it's implicit in all proposals: reference is made to the organization of space as a network as contributing to the sectoral development and / or to the territorial development, the social and economic networks in a given region, the networks of relationships emerging within the main urban centers, and networks of government partnerships as opposed to hierarchical models of structure of government. The network is therefore an alternative mechanism for activating and coordinating of markets and hierarchies, and not an intermediate mechanism. Over recent years, many have been the results of similar thoughts. Thus, the reflection presented integrates in the recent strategy document Ligar Portugal and try not to repeat what has been said and acknowledged as important in this matter, but rather to understand how these objectives can be pursued more efficiently and effective

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammals in Portugal: a data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications

ii An Agile and Adaptive Holonic Architecture for Manufacturing Control

In the last decades significant changes in the manufacturing environment have been noticed: moving from a local economy towards a global economy, with markets asking for products with high quality at lower costs, highly customised and with short life cycle. In this environment, the manufacturing enterprises, to avoid the risk to lose competitiveness, search to answer more closely to the customer demands, by improving their flexibility and agility, while maintaining their productivity and quality. Actually, the dynamic response to emergence is becoming a key issue, due to the weak response of the traditional manufacturing control systems to unexpected disturbances, mainly because of the rigidity of their control architectures. In these circumstances, the challenge is to develop manufacturing control systems with autonomy and intelligence capabilities, fast adaptation to the environment changes, more robustness against the occurrence of disturbances, and easier integration of manufacturing resources and legacy systems. Several architectures using emergent concepts and technologies have been proposed, in particular those based in the holonic manufacturing paradigm. Holonic manufacturing is a paradigm based in the ideas of the philosopher Arthur Koestler

Modelização, concepção e implementação de um controlador de célula de fabrico flexível

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores na Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Prof. Doutor António Maria Lopes da Rocha Quinta

Formulação de Políticas Públicas no Horizonte 2013 relativas ao tema Sociedade da Informação

As mudanças estruturais nos processos de desenvolvimento socioeconómico, com consequentes implicações no crescimento económico, na coesão social e territorial, bem como na qualidade da democracia, desaguam, actualmente, numa sociedade caracterizada pela importância crescente dos recursos cognitivos, pelo avanço constante das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) e pela consequente alteração da vivência das pessoas e das próprias empresas e instituições. Esta sociedade é geralmente apelidada de Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento, sendo patente uma certa evolução para aquilo que poderemos designar por Sociedade Criativa, o que pressupõe uma capacidade acrescida de aprendizagem e inovação, quer para os indivíduos quer para as instituições. A reflexão estratégica apresentada neste trabalho tem como objectivo a tentativa de compreender o impacte das TIC nestas questões, tendo em conta, como pano de fundo, as infra-estruturas e a criação de conhecimento em si mesmo (entendendo portanto as TIC como um meio e não como um fim). No presente documento o conceito de rede é abordado em várias ocasiões e está implícito em todas as propostas: faz-se referência à organização do espaço em rede como forma de desenvolvimento sectorial e/ou territorial, às redes sociais e económicas numa determinada região, às redes de relações emergentes no interior dos principais núcleos urbanos, e às redes de parcerias governamentais em contraposição a modelos hierárquicos de estruturação dos governos. A rede constitui, portanto, um mecanismo de activação e coordenação alternativo, e não intermédio, a mercados e hierarquias. 3. Ao longo dos últimos anos, muitos têm sido os resultados de reflexões semelhantes1. Assim, integra-se a reflexão apresentada no recente documento de estratégia LigarPortugal e tenta-se não repetir o que já foi dito e reconhecido como importante nesta matéria, mas antes compreender como é que tais objectivos podem ser levados à prática de forma mais eficiente e eficaz.Structural changes in the processes of socio-economic development, with consequent implications for economic growth, social and territorial cohesion, and the quality of democracy, flow into, currently, a society characterized by the growing importance of cognitive resources, the constant advancement of the information and communication technology (ICT) and the consequent change in the lives of the people and the firms and institutions. This society is often dubbed the Information and Knowledge Society, being a patent for a certain change what we called the Creative Society, which implies an increased capacity for learning and innovation, both for individuals and for institutions. The strategic analysis presented in this paper aims to attempt to understand the impact of ICT on these issues, taking into account the background, infrastructure and creation of knowledge itself (thus understanding ICT as a means and not as an end). In this paper the concept of network is discussed on several occasions and is implicit in all proposals: reference is made to the organization of space as a network of sectoral development and/or territorial, the social and economic networks in a given region, the networks of relationships emerging within the main urban centers, and networks of government partnerships as opposed to hierarchical models of structure of government. The network is therefore an alternative mechanism for activating and coordinating and not through the markets and hierarchies. 3. Over recent years, many have been the results of a similar reflections. 1. Thus, it integrates the reflection presented in the recent strategy document LigarPortugal and try not to repeat what has been said and acknowledged as important in this matter, but rather to understand how these objectives can be pursued more effectively and effective

Yoga and breathing technique training in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: study protocol for a randomized clinical trial

Abstract Background Current therapies for heart failure (HF) are followed by strategies to improve quality of life and exercise tolerance, besides reducing morbidity and mortality. Some HF patients present changes in the musculoskeletal system and inspiratory muscle weakness, which may be restored by inspiratory muscle training, thus increasing respiratory muscle strength and endurance, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2), functional capacity, respiratory responses to exercise, and quality of life. Yoga therapies have been shown to improve quality of life, inflammatory markers, and peak VO2 mostly in HF patients with a reduced ejection fraction. However, the effect of different yoga breathing techniques in patients showing HF with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remain to be assessed. Methods/design A PROBE (prospective randomized open blinded end-point) parallel-group trial will be conducted at two specialized HF clinics. Adult patients previously diagnosed with HFpEF will be included. After signing informed consent and performing a pre-test intervention, patients will be randomized into three groups and provided with either (1) active yoga breathing techniques; (2) passive yoga breathing techniques (pranayama); or and (3) control (standard pharmacological treatment). Follow-up will last 8 weeks (16 sessions). The post-intervention tests will be performed at the end of the intervention period for analysis of outcomes. Interventions will occur continuously according to patients’ enrollment. The main outcome is respiratory muscular resistance. A total of 33 enrolled patients are expected. The present protocol followed the SPIRIT guidelines and fulfilled the SPIRIT checklist. Discussion This trial is probably the first to assess the effects of a non-pharmacological intervention, namely yoga and specific breathing techniques, to improve cardiorespiratory function, autonomic system, and quality of life in patients with HFpEF. Trial registration REBEC Identifier: RBR-64mbnx (August 19, 2012). Clinical Trials Register: NCT03028168. Registered on 16 January 2017)