Interdisciplinary knowledge transfer and technological applications for assessment, strengthening and monitoring of timber structures in Europe

COST (European Co-operation in the field of scientific and technical research) is the longest running framework for research co-operation iri Europe, having been established in 1971 by a Ministerial Conference attended by Ministers for Science and Technology from 19 countries. Today COST is used by the scientific communities of 35 European countries to cooperate in exchanging knowledge and technology developed within research projects supported by national or European funds. The main objective of COST is to contribute to the realization of the European Research ��rea (ERA) anticipating and complementing the activities of the' Framework Programmes, constituting a "bridge" towards the scientific communities of emerging countries, increasing the mobility of researchers across Europe and fostering the establishment of "Networks of Excelience". Another essential objective is the knowledge transfer between the scientific soc'iety and industry. It is widely acknowledged that European scientific performance in relation to investment in science is excellent but technological and commercial performance has steadily worsened. The present paper discusses how the COST Action's instruments, from training schools to short scientific missions and workshops have been used within The COST ACTION FP11O1 Assessment, Reinforcement and Monitoring of Timber Structures to achieve such objectives.

Project management: evaluation of the problems in the portuguese construction industry

During recent decades it has been possible to identify several problems in construction industry project management, related with to systematic failures in terms of fulfilling its schedule, cost and quality targets, which highlight a need for an evaluation of the factors that may cause these failures. Therefore, it is important to understand how project managers plan the projects, so that the performance and the results can be improved. However, it is important to understand if other areas beyond cost and time management that are mentioned on several studies as the most critical areas, receive the necessary attention from construction project managers. Despite the cost and time are the most sensitive areas/fields, there are several other factors that may lead to project failure. This study aims at understand the reasons that may cause the deviation in terms of cost, time and quality, from the project management point of view, looking at the knowledge areas mentioned by PMI (Project Management Institute).

Assessment of national parks affected by naturbanization processes in Southern Europe

This paper assesses land-use changes related to naturbanization processes on three biosphere reserves in Southern Europe. A comparative analysis has been done on the National Parks in Peneda-Ger^es in North Portugal, C_evennes in South France and Sierra Nevada in South Spain, using Corine Land Cover data from 1990 until 2006. Results indicate that the process of land-use intensification is taking place in the frame of naturbanization dynamics that could jeopardize the role of Protected Areas. Focusing on the trends faced by National Parks and their surrounding territories, the analysis demonstrates, both in quantitative and spatial terms, the intensification processes of land-use changes and how it is important to know them for coping with increasing threats. The article concludes that in the current context of increasing stresses, a broader focus on nature protection, encompassing the wider countryside, is needed if the initiatives for biodiversity protection are to be effective.

Engenheiros portugueses no s��culo XVIII: as suas "geometrias especulativas"

O s��culo XVIII Portugu��s foi, �� semelhan��a do resto da Europa, f��rtil em altera����es acad��micas, cient��ficas e ideol��gicas. O desenvolvimento da ci��ncia e da t��cnica, o surgimento das primeiras m��quinas, impulsionou a ��rea do saber, que atualmente chamamos de engenharia. Em Portugal (�� ��poca ainda um imp��rio do qual fazia parte, entre outros, o Brasil), as escolas t��cnicas e militares consolidam-se e surgem v��rios engenheiros e militares de renome cujas obras se difundem pelo reino. Manuel de Azevedo Fortes (1660-1749), engenheiro-mor do reino Portugu��s, publicou, em 1728 e 1729, os dois tomos de uma das suas obras maiores, O Engenheiro Portugu��s, obra dedicada �� forma����o dos engenheiros na Academia Militar de Lisboa.. A primeira parte deste tratado aborda os conhecimentos matem��ticos que Azevedo Fortes considera essenciais na forma����o dos engenheiros. Na sua Geometria Especulativa, um manuscrito datado de 1724, aborda os elementos de geometria e trigonometria, sem esquecer as suas aplica����es. O Brigadeiro Jos�� Fernandes Pinto Alpoim (1700-1765), engenheiro que se destacou na arquitetura e fortifica����o do Brasil no s��culo XVIII, publicou o Exame de Artilheiros em 1744 e Exame de Bombeiros em 1748, obras contendo os princ��pios da geometria e da trigonometria e as suas aplica����es �� engenharia militar que se destinavam ao ensino dos militares na Academia Militar do Rio de Janeiro, onde era professor. Nesta comunica����o analisaremos a matem��tica, em particular a geometria, presente nestas obras, salientando n��o s�� os conte��dos abordados mas a ��nfase dada ��s aplica����es desses conte��dos nos contextos militares da ��poca.

Jos�� Anast��cio da Cunha e a cria����o da Casa Pia de Lisboa

As modernas ideias cient��ficas e tecnol��gicas da Europa mais desenvolvida transpoem fronteiras e institucionalizam-se em Portugal com a denominada Reforma Pombalina da Universidade de Coimbra (1770-72), no reinado de D. Jos��. Mais: n��o s�� chega a Portugal o pensamento moderno da ��poca como, antecipando a reforma do ensino universit��rio no resto da Europa, o ensino universit��rio portugu��s faz uma aposta clara nas ci��ncias matem��ticas, f��sicas e naturais, bem como num ensino experimental/laboratorial. Anos mais tarde, no reinado de D. Maria, surgem outros projectos educativos e cient��ficos igualmente modernos tais como o da cria����o de uma Academia Real da Marinha (1779) ou o de uma Academia Real das Ci��ncias (1779) e idealiza-se um projeto, porventura, ainda mais revolucion��rio: o da cria����o de uma institui����o de ensino ��� tamb��m de ci��ncias ditas superiores ��� destinada, na sua g��nese, a orf��os e desvalidos �� qual se chamou Casa Pia de Lisboa (1780), e que alguns autores reportam como sendo uma ���universidade plebeia���. Com base em documenta����o aut��grafa, ainda in��dita, recentemente descoberta nos Fundos Setecentistas do Arquivo da Casa de Mateus, exploraremos o papel fundamental que Jos�� Anast��cio da Cunha (1744-1787) ��� militar, matem��tico e poeta ��� desempenhou na concep����o do Plano de Estudos para a institui����o; em particular para o col��gio de S. Lucas, consagrado ��s classes cient��ficas.

Design of a case-based reasoner for information security in military organizations

Information security is concerned with the protection of information, which can be stored, processed or transmitted within critical information systems of the organizations, against loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability. Protection measures to prevent these problems result through the implementation of controls at several dimensions: technical, administrative or physical. A vital objective for military organizations is to ensure superiority in contexts of information warfare and competitive intelligence. Therefore, the problem of information security in military organizations has been a topic of intensive work at both national and transnational levels, and extensive conceptual and standardization work is being produced. A current effort is therefore to develop automated decision support systems to assist military decision makers, at different levels in the command chain, to provide suitable control measures that can effectively deal with potential attacks and, at the same time, prevent, detect and contain vulnerabilities targeted at their information systems. The concept and processes of the Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) methodology outstandingly resembles classical military processes and doctrine, in particular the analysis of ���lessons learned��� and definition of ���modes of action���. Therefore, the present paper addresses the modeling and design of a CBR system with two key objectives: to support an effective response in context of information security for military organizations; to allow for scenario planning and analysis for training and auditing processes.

Step towards of a homemade business intelligence solution: A case study in textile industry

Nowadays, organizations are increasingly looking to invest in business intelligence solutions, mainly private companies in order to get advantage over its competitors, however they do not know what is necessary. Business intelligence allows an analysis of consolidated information in order to obtain more specific outlets and certain indications in order to support the decision making process. You can take the right decision based on the data collected from different information systems present in the organization and outside of them. The textile sector is a sector where concept of Business Intelligence it is not many explored yet. Actually there are few textile companies that have a BI platform. Thus, the article objective is present an architecture and show all the steps by which companies need to spend to implement a successful free homemade Business Intelligence system. As result the proposed approach it was validated using real data aiming assess the steps defined.

Inova����o como fator de competitividade da cadeia de valor da moda

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia T��xtil

Promoting sustainability as a strategy to mitigate the effects of economic downturn on the construction industry

During the recent years followed by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), most of business and industries around the globe have been hardly hit to the limit that it still struggling to survive, suffering from the crisis financial consequences. For instance, in the construction industry; many construction projects have been suspended or totally cancelled. Nevertheless, among this dilemma, a call has been raised to use the sustainable practices to mitigate the effects of the GFC on construction industry. For the first look, it seems that there is contradiction since the sustainable solutions are often associated with an increase in the initial cost, undoubtedly, the sustainable practices have many advantages in both economic and environment aspects, however, the question which needs to be addressed here is, to what extent using such sustainable practices can mitigate the negative effects of the economic downturn on construction industry. Therefore, it is a challenging argument for using such sustainable construction from its economic perspective, however, this paper is aiming to present the economical benefits of sustainable practices in construction industry, and trying to clear the doubt of the high initial costs of the sustainable construction through studying the life cycle benefit of green building.

Quality costs analysis: case study in the automotive industry

Disserta����o de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gest��o Industrial

Occupational stress and coping among portuguese military police officers

This study describes the professional experience of military police officers from the Portuguese Republican National Guard (N = 95). We focused on the main sources and consequences of stress and the coping strategies used to deal with stress. The evaluation protocol included one closed-ended question and four open-ended questions. Data analysis of meaningful text segments was conceptually based and data categorization followed deductive content analysis. Results allowed the identification of 483 meaning units. Factors intrinsic to the job and the relationships at work were the main stressors referred by participants. The consequences of stressors were evident at an individual level, affecting family, psychological, and physical/health domains. The coping strategies used to deal with the main source of stress in the professional career were focused on problem solving (e.g., active confrontation) and emotional regulation (e.g., situation acceptance). Practical implications and future avenues of research with these professionals are discussed.

Innovation in the portuguese footwear industry

Proceedings da AUTEX 2015, Bucareste, Rom��nia.

Innovation in ���low-tech��� industries: Portuguese footwear industry

ICEIM ��� International Conference in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Roma, 17-18 de setembro de 2015.

Planeamento e controlo de projetos em ambiente colaborativo com recurso a ferramentas BIM

Disserta����o de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil

Desenvolvimento de um sistema fibroso multicamada para reabilita����o de edif��cios

Disserta����o de mestrado Internacional em Sustentabilidade do Ambiente Constru��do