Strategic Blockchain Adoption in Supply Chain Operations

Supply chains have often benefited from breakthroughs in information technology. Most recently, blockchain is promising to revolutionize the way supply chains are designed and operated. In this thesis, we explore blockchain adoptions in three supply chain settings. First, we optimize blockchain deployment at the supply chain network design stage and propose a mixed-integer quadratic programming model for it. Based on a case study from the fresh flowers supply chain, we find that significant cost savings could be achieved from the strategic deployment of blockchain throughout the supply chain as opposed to full blockchain adoption, which translates to lower market prices to consumers, increased demand, better product quality products, and higher profits. In the second, we investigate the potential of blockchain adoption to deter counterfeiters. We present a game-theoretic model that uses blockchain technology to increase the capability of detecting deceptive counterfeits. We find that blockchain is not always financially viable for manufacturers to discourage counterfeiting and it becomes less attractive for premium and luxury products. Our framework also demonstrates that manufacturers can strategically balance product quality and blockchain investment to combat counterfeiting. Last, we explore the potential of blockchain to accurately track carbon emissions. We study a competitive supplier selection problem with one manufacturer and two suppliers and investigate the use of financial incentives to encourage suppliers to adopt greener technologies. The game-theoretic framework is modelled as a bi-level optimization problem. We find that financial incentives are effective in fostering greener components from the suppliers and that blockchain offers suppliers the flexibility to explore emission reductions either by better reporting or technological upgrades

A data-driven optimization approach for mixed-case palletization and three-dimensional bin packing

Palletization is the most standard method of packaging and transportation in the retail industry. Their building involves the solution of a three-dimensional packing problem with side practical constraints such as item support and pallet stability, leading to what is known as the mixed-case palletization problem. Motivated by the fact that solving industry-size instances is still very challenging for current methods, we propose a new solution methodology that combines data analysis at the instance level and optimization to build pallets. Item heights are first analyzed to identify possible layers and to derive relationships between item positions. Items are stacked in pairs and trios to create super items, which are then arranged to create layers of even height. The resulting layers are finally stacked to create pallets. The layers are constructed using a reduced-size mixed integer program as well as a two-dimension placement heuristic. Computational tests on industry data show that the solution approach is extremely efficient in producing high-quality solutions in fast computational times

UM MÉTODO PARA APOIAR A CAPTURA DE INCIDENTES PARA ANÁLISE DE EMERGÊNCIAS

The organizations responsible to emergency management seek to improve their processes and response time, supported by operational plans where responsibilities and actions to be performed on are defined. However, incidents defined as adverse events and unexpected changes in the emergency plan often occur. The knowledge that team members develop dealing with these incidents is very valuable for the organizations. This paper presents the development of a capturing method of incidents not covered by the emergency plans to be implemented on the ongoing emergency through of observational techniques derived from Ethnography, Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), and Critical Incident Technique (ICT) combined with elements of command and control.As organizações encarregadas da gestão de emergências procuram melhorar seus processos e o tempo de resposta apoiadas em planos operacionais onde são definidas responsabilidades e ações a serem executadas. Entretanto, muitas vezes ocorrem incidentes entendidos como eventos adversos e alterações não previstas pelo plano de emergência. O conhecimento que os membros das equipes desenvolvem ao lidar com estes incidentes é muito valioso para estas organizações. Neste trabalho é apresentado o desenvolvimento de um método de captura de incidentes não previstos pelo plano de emergência a ser aplicado no andamento da mesma através de técnicas observacionais oriundas da Etnografia, Análise de Tarefas Cognitivas (ATC), e Técnica do Incidente Crítico (TIC) combinadas com elementos de comando e controle

THE UIP HYPOTHESIS FOR ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE AND MEXICO WITH THE USE OF THE RATIONAL EXPECTATION HYPOTHESIS: NEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The aim of this study is to test uncovered interest parities for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, for the Jan/1990 to Dec/2001 period, with the use of the rational expectation hypothesis. We also intend to evaluate the degree of mobility of foreign capital in these political jurisdictions, using panel data estimations, with unit root tests proposed by Levin and Lin (1992), and Im, Pesaran, and Shin (1997). The econometric results indicate the rejection of UIR for the period under study, for the group comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. However, the UIP hypothesis is not rejected for the group comprised of Argentina, Chile, and Mexico for the Jan/1991 to Dec/2000 period.A meta deste estudo é testar a paridade de juros descoberta para a Argentina, Brasil, Chile e México no período de Jan./1990 a Dez./2001, com o uso da hipótese de expectativas racionais. Pretende-se também avaliar o grau de mobilidade de capital estrangeiro nestas jurisdições políticas, usando estimativas de Panel Data, com testes de raízes unitárias propostas por Levin e Lin (1992), e Im, Pesaran, e Shin (1997). Os resultados econométricos indicam a rejeição da UIP, no período estudado, para o grupo formado pela Argentina, Brasil, Chile e México. Contudo, a hipótese da UIP não é rejeitada para o grupo da Argentina, Chile e México no período de Jan./91 a Dez./2000

Inventory of tiger- and ground-beetles (Coleoptera Caraboidea: Cicindelidae, Carabidae) from the Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique)

The Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique) is one of the most emblematic protected areas in Africa, well known for its vertebrate biodiversity and restoration ecology efforts following the Mozambican civil war in 1992. The invertebrate biodiversity of Gorongosa National Park is still poorly studied, although the scarce information available indicates the existence of a rich number of species, particularly ground-beetles. The study of Caraboidea beetles is key for designing conservation practices since they are frequently used as biodiversity and ecological indicators and provide valuable information to help decision making. Therefore, the diversity assessment of Caraboidea beetles using standardized methodologies, can be used to quantify the effects of climate change in areas identified as vulnerable to climate change, such as the Gorongosa National Park. We report the occurrence of five tiger-beetles (Cicindelidae) and 93 ground-beetles (Carabidae) species/morphospecies in Gorongosa National Park from a field survey funded by the ECOASSESS project. Sampling was performed in the four main habitat types present in the park (miombo tropical forest, mixed dry forest, transition forest and grasslands) between October 25th and November 25th. In this sampling window, the turnover of Caraboidea species from the dry season to the wet season was recorded for the first time. Twenty-eight species of ground-beetles are new records to Mozambique, including 4 new subgenera and 2 new genera. Additional information on species phenology and habitat preferences is also provided.FUNDING: This study was supported by the Project ECOASSESS – A biodiveristy and ECOlogical ASSESSment of soil fauna of Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique) (PTDC/BIA-CBI/29672/2017) funded through national funds by FCT / MCTES (PIDDAC) under the Programme All Scientific Domains. Marie Bartz was contracted by the University of Coimbra (contract nr. IT057-19-7955) through financial support by the Project/R&D Instituition ECOASSESS. Sara Mendes was financially supported by FCiências – Associação para a investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências through research grants funded by the Project/R&D Institution ECOASSESS. Mário Boieiro and Sérgio Timóteo were supported by FCT under contracts DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0001 and CEECIND/00135/2017, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING APPLIED TO CONTROL CENTRE DESIGN OF A RESEARCH NUCLEAR REACTOR

The Human Factors Engineering (HFE) program is an essential aspect for the design of nuclear installations. The overall aim of the HFE program is the improvement of the operational reliability and safety of plant operation. The HFE program main purpose is to ensure that human factor practices are incorporated into the plant design, emphasizing man-machine interface issues and design improvement of the nuclear reactor Control Centre. The Control Centre of nuclear reactor is a combination of control rooms, control suites and local control stations, which are functionally connected and located on the reactor site. The objective of this paper is to present a design approach for the Control Centre of a nuclear reactor used to produce radioisotopes and for nuclear research, including human factor issues. The design approach is based on participatory design principles, using human factor standards, ergonomic guidelines, and the participation of a multidisciplinary team during all design phases. Using the information gathered, an initial sketch 3D of the Control Centre was developed

A Resilience Engineering Approach for Sustainable Safety in Green Construction

Sustainable construction is a complex endeavour, involving various stakeholders and resulting in situations that are incompletely described or underspecified. Traditional risk assessment methods require a detailed description of the system and safety, focusing on undesirable outcomes, losses, incidents and accidents. Developing this principle, this research describes a new way to deal with risk assessment in the green construction industry using a resilience engineering method based on the functional resonance analysis method and analytic hierarchy process methodologies. The functional resonance analysis method defines a systemic framework to model complex systems based on combinations of function variabilities during normal work. Therefore, to quantify the outcomes for risk assessment, this method was used together with the analytic hierarchy process in a case study during the modernisation work on the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The results of this case study demonstrate that the combined utilisation of the functional resonance analysis method and analytic hierarchy process can be utilised to recognise situations where developments could potentially be without control, which enables this to be used as a basis for performing indicators or a monitoring system. Furthermore, this combined technique can be used to assess and quantify the performance variabilities that may lead to occupational or environmental accidents, and provide new recommendations about how work processes should function, minimising production losses, incidents and accidents

A biodiversidade terrestre e dulçaquícola dos arquipélagos da Madeira e das Selvagens

As ilhas atlânticas dos Açores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canárias e Cabo Verde constituem uma das regiões da Europa mais ricas em diversidade de fungos, plantas e animais. Desde 2004 que a inventariação detalhada da diversidade destas ilhas tem sido um dos principais objectivos dos projectos ATLÂNTICO e BIONATURA (incluídos no projecto EU INTERREG IIIB). Este livro é a mais recente contribuição destes projectos, apresentando uma lista de todos os fungos, flora e fauna terrestre conhecida, incluindo a dulçaquícola, para dois arquipélagos atlânticos (Madeira e Selvagens). A lista abrange o arquipélago da Madeira, constituído por duas ilhas de maiores dimensões (Madeira e Porto Santo) e três pequenas, cujo conjunto constitui as Desertas (Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande e Bugio), e ainda o arquipélago das Selvagens, formado por duas pequenas ilhas (Selvagem Grande e Selvagem Pequena) e um ilhéu (Ilhéu de Fora).ABSTRACT: The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cape Verde are among the richest regions in Fungi, plant and animal diversity in Europe. The main objectives of the EU INTERREG IIIB projects ATLÂNTICO and BIONATURA have been, since 2004, to carry out a detailed inventory of the terrestrial Fungi, Flora and Fauna of these archipelagos. This book, encompassing a checklist of all the known terrestrial and freshwater Fungi, Flora and Fauna of Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos is the latest contribution towards that goal. The geographic scope of this checklist includes the Madeira archipelago, composed of two large islands (Madeira and Porto Santo) and three small islands, which are globally named Desertas (Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio), and the archipelago of Selvagens with two small islands (Selvagem Grande and Selvagem Pequena) and one islet (Ilhéu de Fora)

Mineral Composition of \u3cem\u3eBrachiaria brizantha\u3c/em\u3e cv. MG5 Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Subjected to Grazing

Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG5 is an important component of pastures in Brazil. Past studies (Corsi and Marta Jr. (1998), Maya (2003)) have shown significant pasture and animal production increases can be obtained through irrigation and associated grazing management. Such systems can significantly increase economic viability of production systems based on these pastures (Cedeño 2003). However, past studies have not measured possible differences in mineral composition of such pastures throughout the year with and without irrigation. Such differences, if present, may have implication for animal productivity. This study had the objective of evaluating the mineral composition of Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG5 with and without irrigation in different times of the year