Applications of biased-randomized algorithms and simheuristics in integrated logistics

Transportation and logistics (T&L) activities play a vital role in the development of many businesses from different industries. With the increasing number of people living in urban areas, the expansion of on-demand economy and e-commerce activities, the number of services from transportation and delivery has considerably increased. Consequently, several urban problems have been potentialized, such as traffic congestion and pollution. Several related problems can be formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem (COP). Since most of them are NP-Hard, the finding of optimal solutions through exact solution methods is often impractical in a reasonable amount of time. In realistic settings, the increasing need for 'instant' decision-making further refutes their use in real life. Under these circumstances, this thesis aims at: (i) identifying realistic COPs from different industries; (ii) developing different classes of approximate solution approaches to solve the identified T&L problems; (iii) conducting a series of computational experiments to validate and measure the performance of the developed approaches. The novel concept of 'agile optimization' is introduced, which refers to the combination of biased-randomized heuristics with parallel computing to deal with real-time decision-making.Las actividades de transporte y logística (T&L) juegan un papel vital en el desarrollo de muchas empresas de diferentes industrias. Con el creciente número de personas que viven en áreas urbanas, la expansión de la economía a lacarta y las actividades de comercio electrónico, el número de servicios de transporte y entrega ha aumentado considerablemente. En consecuencia, se han potencializado varios problemas urbanos, como la congestión del tráfico y la contaminación. Varios problemas relacionados pueden formularse como un problema de optimización combinatoria (COP). Dado que la mayoría de ellos son NP-Hard, la búsqueda de soluciones óptimas a través de métodos de solución exactos a menudo no es práctico en un período de tiempo razonable. En entornos realistas, la creciente necesidad de una toma de decisiones "instantánea" refuta aún más su uso en la vida real. En estas circunstancias, esta tesis tiene como objetivo: (i) identificar COP realistas de diferentes industrias; (ii) desarrollar diferentes clases de enfoques de solución aproximada para resolver los problemas de T&L identificados; (iii) realizar una serie de experimentos computacionales para validar y medir el desempeño de los enfoques desarrollados. Se introduce el nuevo concepto de optimización ágil, que se refiere a la combinación de heurísticas aleatorias sesgadas con computación paralela para hacer frente a la toma de decisiones en tiempo real.Les activitats de transport i logística (T&L) tenen un paper vital en el desenvolupament de moltes empreses de diferents indústries. Amb l'augment del nombre de persones que viuen a les zones urbanes, l'expansió de l'economia a la carta i les activitats de comerç electrònic, el nombre de serveis del transport i el lliurament ha augmentat considerablement. En conseqüència, s'han potencialitzat diversos problemes urbans, com ara la congestió del trànsit i la contaminació. Es poden formular diversos problemes relacionats com a problema d'optimització combinatòria (COP). Com que la majoria són NP-Hard, la recerca de solucions òptimes mitjançant mètodes de solució exactes sovint no és pràctica en un temps raonable. En entorns realistes, la creixent necessitat de prendre decisions "instantànies" refuta encara més el seu ús a la vida real. En aquestes circumstàncies, aquesta tesi té com a objectiu: (i) identificar COP realistes de diferents indústries; (ii) desenvolupar diferents classes d'aproximacions aproximades a la solució per resoldre els problemes identificats de T&L; (iii) la realització d'una sèrie d'experiments computacionals per validar i mesurar el rendiment dels enfocaments desenvolupats. S'introdueix el nou concepte d'optimització àgil, que fa referència a la combinació d'heurístiques esbiaixades i aleatòries amb informàtica paral·lela per fer front a la presa de decisions en temps real.Tecnologies de la informació i de xarxe

Utilisation d'un modèle réduit expérimental comme référence pour la validation des modèles d'inondations en zone urbaine

Recent advances in flood modelling of urban areas have lead to the development of more sophisticated urban flood models. These models simulate flooding events by coupling the surface flow and the sewer system with an internal boundary condition (IBC). However, good quality data of flood events are hazardous to obtain. In this work we aim to present quality data (i.e. discharges and water levels at several locations) collected from an experimental scaled-model for enabling a benchmark test for urban flood models. In addition the IBC discharge coefficients provided herein are determined experimentally enabling a consistent validation of drainage models. The scaled model comprises of a rectangular surface-channel with a downstream weir discharge, and with six inlets with identical diameter. The experimental results indicate: (1) consistency between the discharges measured by the ADV/WRP and the volumetric method (2) consistency of the water levels obtained in each WRPs; (2) Good correlation between the inlet discharge coefficients, and the weir discharge coefficient (3) The centre inlets show a higher discharge than the side inlets and the downstream inlets show a higher discharge than the upstream ones.L’évolution actuelle de la modélisation des inondations urbaines a conduit au développement d´améliorations importantes des modèles d'inondations en milieu urbain. Ces modèles de programmation mathématique simulent des inondations en tenant compte de l'interaction entre l'écoulement de surface et l'écoulement dans le réseau d'assainissement. Toutefois, il est difficile d'obtenir des données de qualité sur ces inondations. Ce travail vise à présenter des données de qualité mesurées à l'échelle expérimentale (déversements et niveaux d’eau en divers points d'un canal), pour être utilisé comme test de référence et donc comme benchmark pour la validation des modèles d’inondations urbaines. De plus, les coefficients de déversement présentés sont calculés expérimentalement, permettant ainsi la validation des modèles d'assainissement. Le modèle à l'échelle est un canal rectangulaire avec renvoi du déversoir en aval et six arrivées de diamètre identique. Les résultats de l'expérience indiquent: (1) la cohérence entre les déversements mesurés par les sondes ADV/WRP et les résultats de la méthode volumétrique; (2) la cohérence des niveaux d'eau obtenus pour chaque sonde WRP; (3) une bonne corrélation entre le coefficient de déversement d’arrivée et le coefficient de déversement du déversoir en aval; (4) les arrivées au centre présentent des coefficients de déversement plus grands, de même que les arrivées en aval

Wetting and drying numerical treatments for the Roe Riemann scheme

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordAccurate characterization of wetting-drying fronts in free surface flows is challenging because it is difficult and computationally demanding to track the exact position of the interface. This work presents a novel numerical treatment of the wetting-drying fronts applied to an approximate Roe Riemann solver and compares it to four other approaches. The numerical treatments were implemented both for the shallow water equations and for the local inertial equations. The results of this comparison overall showed a good agreement. For the tests conducted it was verified that element removal numerical treatments with global distributing of water can introduce errors and degenerate the solution introducing or displacing water upstream. Local correction and flux restricting numerical treatments show the best results. The negative depth numerical treatments provided similar results to the local correction and flux restricting numerical treatment, although with mass conservation errors.This research was funded by the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through the doctoral grant [SFRH/BD/81869/2011] financed through the POPH/FSE (Programa Operacional Potencial Humano/Fundo Social Europeu) and the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted by FCT to MARE

Analytical and numerical solutions of the Local Inertial Equations

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Neglecting the convective terms in the Saint-Venant Equations (SVE) in flood hydrodynamic modelling can be done without a loss in accuracy of the simulation results. In this case the Local Inertial Equations (LInE) are obtained. Herein we present two analytical solutions for the Local Inertial Equations. The first is the classical instantaneous Dam-Break Problem and the second a steady state solution over a bump. These solutions are compared with two numerical schemes, namely the first order Roe scheme and the second order MacCormack scheme. Comparison between analytical and numerical results shows that the numerical schemes and the analytical solution converge to a unique solution. Furthermore, by neglecting the convective terms the original numerical schemes remain stable without the need for adding entropy correction, artificial viscosity or special initial conditions, as in the case of the full SVE.This research is partially funded by the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the Doctoral Grant SFRH/BD/81869/2011 financed through the POPH/FSE program (Programa Operacional Potencial Humano/Fundo Social Europeu). This study had the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) Project UID/MAR/04292/2013

¿El nuevo código de ética para los fisioterapeutas ha incorporado las tendencias de la bioética?

Considerando que avanços tecnológicos em saúde geralmente incorporam discussões bioéticas em textos que tratam do cuidado prestado por profissionais, surge a questão: o atual código de ética para fisioterapeutas incorporou essas discussões? Partindo desse ponto, objetivamos verificar a proporção das abordagens deontológicas e bioéticas no novo código de ética em comparação com sua versão anterior, investigando relações entre autonomia profissional e clientes no cuidado em saúde. Aplicaram-se métodos de análise de conteúdo em documentos escritos, a fim de verificar a proporção de conteúdos deontológicos e bioéticos no novo código. Os enfoques bioéticos formam a maior parte do conteúdo desse novo código (53%), principalmente em relação à categoria de justiça (21,9% do total das unidades textuais encontradas). As mudanças no documento revelam influência da bioética, mas não houve alterações significativas na relação entre autonomia profissional e clientes, o que mostra a necessidade de mais discussões sobre o assunto.Advances in health technology incorporate bioethical discussions in texts that address professional care. Would the new code of ethics for physiotherapists have incorporated such discussions? Given the issue, we aimed to verify the ratio of deontological and bioethical approaches in the new code of ethics when compared to the old one, investigating relationships between professional and client autonomies in healthcare. Content analysis methods were applied to written documents in order to verify in what proportion deontological and bioethical approaches are present in the new code. The bioethical approaches compose the large part of the content in this new code (53%) specially related to the justice category which represents 21,9% of the total textual units found. Changes in the new document reveal bioethical influences in the conception of the new code, which still did not modify the relationship between professional and client autonomies, revealing the need for further discussions.Los avances tecnológicos en salud incorporan debates bioéticos en textos relacionados con la atención recibida por los profesionales. ¿El actual código de ética para los fisioterapeutas incorporó estas discusiones? Ante esta pregunta, con el objetivo de comprobar proporciones de los enfoques deontológicos y bioéticos en el nuevo código de ética en comparación con su versión anterior, se han investigado las relaciones entre la autonomía profesional versus el cliente en el cuidado de la salud. Métodos de análisis de contenido se aplicaron en los documentos escritos con el fin de verificar la proporción de contenidos categorizados en deontológicos y bioéticos en el nuevo código. Los enfoques bioéticos forman la mayor parte de los contenidos de este nuevo código (53%), principalmente relacionados con la categoría de justicia que constituye el 21,9% de las unidades textuales encontradas. Los cambios en el documento actual revelan influencias bioéticas en el diseño del nuevo código de ética que todavía no cambió la relación de la autonomía profesional frente al cliente, dejando al descubierto la necesidad de nuevas discusiones sobre el tema

Productive Structure and Income Distribution: the Brazilian Case.

This study deals with the impacts of structural changes on income distribution in Brazil in the period 1992-2002. A Pure Leontief Model and a Leontief-Miazawa Model were utilized to portray the structure of the economy in both years, and to perform counterfactual simulations on some important changes occurring during the period. The methodology allowed for the identification of the high and low inequality sectors in both years, and to their contribution to the increasing inequality during the period. It is interesting to notice that some sectors with low internal inequality ended-up provoking increased global inequality through their interaction pattern with other sectors in the economy,and through the consumption structure. The results also indicate that the change in sectoral shares in the period contributed to diminishing inequality. Therefore, the causes for increasing inequality remains within the distribution of wages within the sectors.

Knowledge graph of press clippings referring social minorities

Major Minors is a project that collects press clippings from Portuguese newspapers (currently from 1996 until 2019) which refer subjects related with minorities. Its datasource is the Arquivo.pt (repository of the past Portuguese World Wide Web). This data was used to generate ontologies (RDF triplestores composing a semantic database) and interfaces to interact with them (SPARQL APIs following W3C standards for Semantic Web). We enriched this basis with new ramifications, by identifying and crossing references with 19 entities. This paper describes the methodologies implemented to develop this Knowledge Graph.(undefined

Do Internacional ao local: Processos colaborativos no âmbito da literacia ambiental

Este estudo teve como base campos de trabalho internacional em regime de voluntariado ambiental, em que o propósito do mesmo é estudar a relação colaborativa entre as instituições responsáveis pela sua organização, bem como perceber de que forma estes campos foram impactantes na literacia ambiental quer dos voluntários, quer dos membros das organizações. Após a pesquisa de bibliografia, foram identificadas algumas das dimensões da colaboração, sendo que estas serviram de base às entrevistas, que foram realizadas com o intuito de poder recolher a opinião de cada representante de cada uma das organizações. Fruto destas entrevistas, ficou explícito uma boa relação mantida entre os parceiros, sendo que os seus laços fortes e confiança foram realçados como um fator que aprimora o compromisso e a continuidade deste projeto. Também ficou inicialmente definido o objetivo de perceber quais as motivações dos voluntários para participarem neste tipo de iniciativas, bem como perceber junto deles de que forma estes Campos de Trabalho Internacional foram impactantes na sua literacia ambiental. Através de questionários, foram recolhidas quais as motivações e o impacto destes campos na literacia ambiental dos voluntários. Assim, estes destacaram a participação neste tipo de iniciativas pelo interesse em ajudar o ambiente. Em relação à literacia ambiental, estes apontaram para um impacto positivo destes Campos de Trabalho Internacional na sua literacia ambiental, ainda que foi possível notar uma pequena discrepância entre aquilo que foi aprendido e a adoção das boas práticas transmitidas no seu dia a dia

A comparison of three dual drainage models: Shallow Water vs Local Inertial vs Diffusive Wave

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IWA Publishing via the DOI in this record.In this study we compared three overland flow models, a full dynamic model (SWE), a local inertial equations model (GWM), and a diffusive wave model (PDWAVE). The three models are coupled with the same full dynamic sewer network model (SIPSON). We adopted the volume exchange between sewer and overland flow models, and the hydraulic head and discharge rates at the linked manholes to evaluate differences between the models. For that purpose we developed a novel methodology based on RGB scale. The test results of a real case study show a close agreement between coupled models in terms of the extents of flooding, depth and volume exchanged, despite highly complex flows and geometries. The diffusive wave model gives slightly higher maximum flood depths and a slower propagation of the flood front when compared to the other two models. The Local inertial model shows to slight extent higher depths downstream as the wave front is slower than the one in the fully dynamic model. Overall, the simplified overland models can produce comparable results to fully dynamic models with less computational costThis research is partially funded by the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the Doctoral Grant SFRH/BD/81869/2011 financed through the POPH/FSE program (Programa Operacional Potencial Humano/Fundo Social Europeu). This study had the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) Project UID/MAR/04292/2013 and the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Project Susceptibility of catchments to INTense RAinfall and flooding (SINATRA, NE/K008765/1)