Shining examples analysed within the EBC Annex 56 project

The International Energy Agency established an Implementing Agreement within the Energy in Buildings and Communities Program to undertake research and provide an international focus on Cost Effective Energy and Carbon Emissions Optimization in Building Renovation (EBC Annex 56). The project aims at developing a new methodology to enable cost effective renovation of existing buildings while optimizing energy consumption and carbon emissions reduction. Gathering of case studies is one of the activities undertaken to reach the overall project. Of the case studies a selection of â Shining Examplesâ is made to encourage decision makers to promote efficient and cost effective renovations. This paper presents the results of the analyses made on the Shining Examples.

Spawning habitat selection by Octopus vulgaris: new insights for a more effective management of this resource

The selection of spawning habitat of a population of Octopus vulgaris that is subject to a small-scale exploitation was studied in the Cíes Islands within the National Park of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia (NW Spain). The technique used was visual censuses by scuba diving. We conducted 93 visual censuses from April 2012 to April 2014. The total swept area was 123.69 ha. Habitat features (season, depth, zone, bottom temperature, swept area, bottom substrate type, and creels fishing impact) were evaluated as predictors of the presence/absence of spawning dens using GAM models. O. vulgaris has a noteworthy preference for spawning in areas with hard bottom substrate and moderate depth (approximately 20 m). The higher density of spawning dens (1.08ha−1) was found in a surveyed area of 50.14ha located in the northeastern part of the northern Cíes Island. We propose to protect the area comprised from Punta Escodelo to Punta Ferreiro between 5 and 30 m depth. This area has a surface of 158 ha equivalent to 5.98% of the total marine area of the Cíes islands. The strengths and weaknesses of a management strategy based on the protection of the species’ spawning habitat are discussed.

As potencialidades pedagógicas da WebQuest no ensino e aprendizagem da Geologia: um estudo com alunos do 11.º ano no tema "Principais etapas de formação das rochas sedimentares"

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Biologia e Geologia no 3.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário

A GIS extension model to calculate urban heat island intensity based on urban geometry

This paper presents a simulation model, which was incorporated into a Geographic Information System (GIS), in order to calculate the maximum intensity of urban heat islands based on urban geometry data. The method-ology of this study stands on a theoretical-numerical basis (Okeâ s model), followed by the study and selection of existing GIS tools, the design of the calculation model, the incorporation of the resulting algorithm into the GIS platform and the application of the tool, developed as exemplification. The developed tool will help researchers to simulate UHI in different urban scenarios.

Recycled asphalt mixtures produced with high percentage of different waste materials

The use of sustainable solutions in construction is not just an option, but is increasingly becoming a need of the Society. Thus, nowadays the recycling of waste materials is a growing technology that needs to be continuously improved, namely by researching new solutions for waste valorisation and by increasing the amount of wastes reused. In the paving industry, the reuse of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is becoming common practice, but needs further research work. Thus, this study aims to increase the incorporation of RA and other waste materials in the production of recycled asphalt mixtures in order to improve their mechanical, environmental and economic performance. Recycled mixtures with 50% RA were analysed in this study, including: i) RA selection, preparation and characterization; ii) incorporation of other waste materials as binder additives or modifiers, like used motor oil (UMO) and waste high density polyethylene (HDPE); iii) production of different mixtures (without additives; with UMO; with UMO and HDPE) and comparison of their performance in order to assess the main advantages of each solution. With this study it was concluded that up to 7.5 % of UMO and 4.0 % of HDPE can be used in a new modified binder for asphalt mixtures with 50 % of RA, which have excellent properties concerning the rutting with WTS = 0.02 mm/103 cycles, the fatigue resistance with ε6 = 160.4, and water sensitivity with an ITSR of 81.9 %.

The encore project: sustainable solutions for cementitious materials

Since concrete is the most widely utilized construction material, several solutions are currently being developed and investigated for enhancing the sustainability of cementitious materials. One of these solutions is based on producing Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA) from existing concrete members resulting by either industrial processes or demolitions of existing structures as a whole. Moreover, waste resulting from industrial processes other than the building construction (i.e., tire recycling, production of steel, powders resulting from other depuration processes) are also being considered as possible low-impact constituents for producing structural concrete and Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Composites (FRCC). Furthermore, the use of natural fibers is another option for producing environmentally-friendly and cost-effective materials, depending on the local availability of raw materials. To promote the use of concretes partially composed of recycled constituents, their influence on the mechanical and durability performance of these concretes have to be deeply investigated and correlated. This was the main goal of the EnCoRe Project (www.encore-fp7.unisa.it), a EU-funded initiative, whose activities and main findings are summarized in this paper.

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).

Utilization of waste materials to improve asphalt mixtures performance

This study aims to develop an innovative bitumen with large quantities of waste materials to improve asphalt mixtures performance. Different amounts of waste motor oil and waste HDPE were added to a new bitumen. The bitumen modified with 10% of waste motor oil and 5% of HDPE showed promising characteristics (high softening point temperatures and penetration slightly higher than the conventional bitumen). After the selection of the most promising modified bitumen, three asphalt mixtures were produced with different bitumens (namely conventional bitumen, commercial modified bitumen and the selected modified bitumen). Beyond that, this modified bitumen improved some mechanical characteristics of the asphalt mixture where it was used, in comparison to conventional and modified asphalt mixtures.

A construção de um currículo de project-based learning: o currículo ideal e o currículo formal

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar os resultados da análise das concepções de dois protagonistas de uma reforma curricular que está sendo implementada numa escola de engenharia. A principal característica do novo currículo é o uso de projetos e oficinas como atividades complementares a serem realizadas pelos estudantes. As atividades complementares acontecerão em paralelo ao trabalho realizado nas disciplinas sem que haja uma relação de interdisciplinaridade. O novo currículo está sendo implantado desde fevereiro de 2015. Segundo Pacheco (2005) há dois momentos, dentre outros, no processo de mudança curricular, o currículo “ideal”, determinado por dimensões epistemológica, política, econômica, ideológica, técnica, estética, e histórica e, que recebe influência direta daquele que idealiza e cria o novo currículo e, o currículo “formal” que se traduz na prática implementada na escola. São essas duas etapas estudadas nesta pesquisa. Para isso serão considerados como fontes de dados dois protagonistas, um mais ligado à concepção do currículo e outro da sua implementação, a partir dos quais se busca compreender as motivações, crenças e percepções que, por sua vez, determinam a reforma curricular. Entrevistas semiestruturadas foram utilizadas como técnica de pesquisa, com o propósito de se entender a gênese da proposta e as mudanças entre essas duas etapas. Os dados revelam que mudanças aconteceram desde a idealização até a formalização do currículo, motivadas por demandas do processo de implementação, revela ainda diferenças na visão de currículo e a motivação para romper com padrões na formação de engenheiros no Brasil.

Interaction paradigms versus age-related user profiles: an evaluation on content selection

Novel input modalities such as touch, tangibles or gestures try to exploit human's innate skills rather than imposing new learning processes. However, despite the recent boom of different natural interaction paradigms, it hasn't been systematically evaluated how these interfaces influence a user's performance or whether each interface could be more or less appropriate when it comes to: 1) different age groups; and 2) different basic operations, as data selection, insertion or manipulation. This work presents the first step of an exploratory evaluation about whether or not the users' performance is indeed influenced by the different interfaces. The key point is to understand how different interaction paradigms affect specific target-audiences (children, adults and older adults) when dealing with a selection task. 60 participants took part in this study to assess how different interfaces may influence the interaction of specific groups of users with regard to their age. Four input modalities were used to perform a selection task and the methodology was based on usability testing (speed, accuracy and user preference). The study suggests a statistically significant difference between mean selection times for each group of users, and also raises new issues regarding the “old” mouse input versus the “new” input modalities.

Implementation of a lean six sigma project in a production line

Companies from the motorcycles components branch are dealing with a dynamic environment, resulting from the introduction of new products and the increase of market demand. This dynamic environment requires frequent changes in production lines and requires flexibility in the processes, which can cause reductions in the level of quality and productivity. This paper presents a Lean Six Sigma improvement project performed in a production line of the company's machining sector, in order to eliminate losses that cause low productivity, affecting the fulfillment of the production plan and customer satisfaction. The use of Lean methodology following the DMAIC stages allowed analyzing the factors that influence the line productivity loss. The major problems and causes that contribute to a reduction on productivity and that were identified in this study are the lack of standardization in the setup activities and the excessive stoppages for adjustment of the processes that caused an increase of defects. Control charts, Pareto analysis and cause-and-effect diagrams were used to analyze the problem. On the improvement stage, the changes were based on the reconfiguration of the line layout as well as the modernization of the process. Overall, the project justified an investment in new equipment, the defective product units were reduced by 84% and an increase of 29% of line capacity was noticed.

Análise do impacto do controlo de custos na competitividade de uma empresa de mobiliário

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial

Analysis and selection of indicators for a sustainability assessment method for school buildings based on SBTool ‐ PT

Nowadays, the sustainability of buildings has an extreme importance. This concept goes towards the European aims of the Program Horizon 2020, which concerns about the reduction of the environmental impacts through such aspects as the energy efficiency and renewable technologies, among others. Sustainability is an extremely broad concept but, in this work, it is intended to include the concept of sustainability in buildings. Within the concept that aims the integration of environmental, social and economic levels towards the preservation of the planet and the integrity of the users, there are, currently, several types of tools of environmental certification that are applicable to the construction industry (LEED, BREEAM, DGNB, SBTool, among others). Within this context, it is highlighted the tool SBTool (Sustainable Building Tool) that is employed in several countries and can be subject to review in institutions of basic education, which are the base for the formation of the critical masses and for the development of a country. The main aim of this research is to select indicators that can be used in a methodology for sustainability assessment (SBTool) of school buildings in Portugal and in Brazil. In order to achieve it, it will also be analyzed other methodologies that already incorporate parameters directly related with the schools environment, such as BREEAM or LEED.

O ensino de canto nos ramos genérico e vocacional no 1º ciclo do ensino básico: um estudo de caso múltiplo

Tese de Doutoramento em Estudos da Criança (área de especialização em Educação Musical).

The importance of risk assessment in the context of investment project management: a case study

Risk management is an important component of project management. Nevertheless, such process begins with risk assessment and evaluation. In this research project, a detailed analysis of the methodologies used to treat risks in investment projects adopted by the Banco da Amazonia S.A. was made. Investment projects submitted to the FNO (Constitutional Fund for Financing the North) during 2011 and 2012 were considered for that purpose. It was found that the evaluators of this credit institution use multiple indicators for risk assessment which assume a central role in terms of decision-making and contribute for the approval or the rejection of the submitted projects; namely, the proven ability to pay, the financial records of project promotors, several financial restrictions, level of equity, level of financial indebtedness, evidence of the existence of a consumer market, the proven experience of the partners/owners in the business, environmental aspects, etc. Furthermore, the bank has technological systems to support the risk assessment process, an internal communication system and a unique system for the management of operational risk.