ISO 9001:2000 - advantages and obstacles in the portuguese construction business

Innovations in Structural Engineering and Construction - ISEC, 2008

Creation of a web application for smart park system and parking prediction study for system integration

In the last few years, we have observed an exponential increasing of the information systems, and parking information is one more example of them. The needs of obtaining reliable and updated information of parking slots availability are very important in the goal of traffic reduction. Also parking slot prediction is a new topic that has already started to be applied. San Francisco in America and Santander in Spain are examples of such projects carried out to obtain this kind of information. The aim of this thesis is the study and evaluation of methodologies for parking slot prediction and the integration in a web application, where all kind of users will be able to know the current parking status and also future status according to parking model predictions. The source of the data is ancillary in this work but it needs to be understood anyway to understand the parking behaviour. Actually, there are many modelling techniques used for this purpose such as time series analysis, decision trees, neural networks and clustering. In this work, the author explains the best techniques at this work, analyzes the result and points out the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The model will learn the periodic and seasonal patterns of the parking status behaviour, and with this knowledge it can predict future status values given a date. The data used comes from the Smart Park Ontinyent and it is about parking occupancy status together with timestamps and it is stored in a database. After data acquisition, data analysis and pre-processing was needed for model implementations. The first test done was with the boosting ensemble classifier, employed over a set of decision trees, created with C5.0 algorithm from a set of training samples, to assign a prediction value to each object. In addition to the predictions, this work has got measurements error that indicates the reliability of the outcome predictions being correct. The second test was done using the function fitting seasonal exponential smoothing tbats model. Finally as the last test, it has been tried a model that is actually a combination of the previous two models, just to see the result of this combination. The results were quite good for all of them, having error averages of 6.2, 6.6 and 5.4 in vacancies predictions for the three models respectively. This means from a parking of 47 places a 10% average error in parking slot predictions. This result could be even better with longer data available. In order to make this kind of information visible and reachable from everyone having a device with internet connection, a web application was made for this purpose. Beside the data displaying, this application also offers different functions to improve the task of searching for parking. The new functions, apart from parking prediction, were: - Park distances from user location. It provides all the distances to user current location to the different parks in the city. - Geocoding. The service for matching a literal description or an address to a concrete location. - Geolocation. The service for positioning the user. - Parking list panel. This is not a service neither a function, is just a better visualization and better handling of the information.

Donations of non-financial resources: The motivation and consequences of measuring and accounting for it

This thesis focus on the measurement and accounting of contributions received by nonprofit organizations, as they are a significant component of revenues nowadays. A survey was developed and forward to 38 different NPOs, with the goal of understanding their motivations and what advantages and disadvantages they believe would result if they start to measure and account for all kinds of contributions. They presented many advantages from this practice; however, some are not doing it due to the difficulties in valuing contributions with no market value which would require a higher workload, waste of resources and time to be taken from other important activities.

Market risk charge of the trading book: a comparison of the Basel II and Basel III

This paper aims to investigate if the market capital charge of the trading book increased in Basel III compared to Basel II. I showed that the capital charge rises by 232% and 182% under the standardized and internal model, respectively. The varying liquidity horizons, the calibration to a stress period, the introduction of credit spread risk, the restrictions on correlations across risk categories and the incremental default charge boost Basel III requirements. Nevertheless, the impact of Expected shortfall at 97.5% is low and long term shocks decrease the charge. The standardized approach presents advantages and disadvantages relative to internal models.

Specification of software architecture reconfiguration

In the past years, Software Architecture has attracted increased attention by academia and industry as the unifying concept to structure the design of complex systems. One particular research area deals with the possibility of reconfiguring architectures to adapt the systems they describe to new requirements. Reconfiguration amounts to adding and removing components and connections, and may have to occur without stopping the execution of the system being reconfigured. This work contributes to the formal description of such a process. Taking as a premise that a single formalism hardly ever satisfies all requirements in every situation, we present three approaches, each one with its own assumptions about the systems it can be applied to and with different advantages and disadvantages. Each approach is based on work of other researchers and has the aesthetic concern of changing as little as possible the original formalism, keeping its spirit. The first approach shows how a given reconfiguration can be specified in the same manner as the system it is applied to and in a way to be efficiently executed. The second approach explores the Chemical Abstract Machine, a formalism for rewriting multisets of terms, to describe architectures, computations, and reconfigurations in a uniform way. The last approach uses a UNITY-like parallel programming design language to describe computations, represents architectures by diagrams in the sense of Category Theory, and specifies reconfigurations by graph transformation rules.

Analysis of support for modularity in object teams based on design patterns

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

Transactional filesystems

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

Virtual Campus for the University of Jaume I, Castelló, Spain: 3D Modelling of the Campus Buildings using CityEngine

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Métodos de avaliação da frequência de eventos adversos em contexto hospitalar : contributos de uma revisão sistemática

RESUMO - Os eventos adversos (EA) hospitalares constituem um problema sério dos cuidados de saúde com consequências clínicas, económicas e sociais para a Saúde Pública. Nas últimas décadas foram realizados diversos estudos com o objetivo de conhecer de forma mais pormenorizada esta realidade, nomeadamente no que diz respeito à frequência, tipologia, evitabilidade e impacte dos EA. De entre as diferentes metodologias que têm sido utilizadas parece existir algum consenso em torno da análise retrospetiva de processos clínicos como a que oferece maior garantia de fiabilidade e reprodutibilidade, não obstante as limitações conhecidas. Assim, propusemo-nos com este trabalho, analisar as vantagens e desvantagens dos métodos mais comummente utilizados para caraterizar a ocorrência de EA e, concomitantemente elaborar uma revisão sistemática (RS) dos estudos que aplicaram o método de revisão retrospetiva de processos clínicos na caraterização e avaliação dos EA em contexto hospitalar. Para definir a nossa amostra, realizámos uma pesquisa formal nas bases de dados MEDLINE e Web of Knowledge, e foi realizado um cruzamento manual de referências dos artigos elegíveis para identificar estudos adicionais relevantes. Os artigos selecionados foram revistos independentemente no que diz respeito à metodologia, aos critérios de elegibilidade e aos objetivos. Durante a fase de revisão e aplicação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão foram selecionados os artigos que abordassem a frequência/incidência e a percentagem de evitabilidade dos EA hospitalares, através da aplicação do método de revisão retrospetiva de processos clínicos. Após a fase de pesquisa e revisão dos artigos, foram selecionados para a nossa amostra oito estudos que incluíram um total de 28.862 processos clínicos revistos. De entre os principais resultados encontrados destaca-se: i) A mediana de incidência de EA hospitalares de 9.5%; Universidade Nova de Lisboa – Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública ii) O valor de mediana de EA considerados evitáveis de 45.5%; iii) No que se refere ao impacte clínico dos EA, mais de metade dos doentes (56.3%) não experienciou incapacidade ou experienciou incapacidade menor; iv) Em 8% dos casos de EA ocorreu a morte dos doentes. v) Quanto ao impacte económico evidencia-se o facto de, nos doentes em que se confirmou EA, o período de internamento se ter prolongado, em média, por 7.1 dias com consequentes e previsíveis custos adicionais. Tendo em consideração as vantagens e desvantagens de cada método, os sistemas de informação existentes em Portugal e a realidade das instituições de saúde, parece-nos plausível destacar o método de revisão dos processos clínicos como o que melhor se adapta para caraterizar os EA no contexto hospitalar português.

Internationalization process of Gallo worldwide: Introduction of olive in a non-traditional market - China

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Social media: The new tool in firms’ marketing strategies

In this work project we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of social media as a marketing tool. Four international cases were analyzed to provide anecdotal evidence of how social and viral marketing have been used by four firms in very different industries. We reviewed empirical evidence on the topic to discuss the main components of viral marketing. We concluded that positive (electronic) word of mouth, short response time and seeding through high network value customers are the main drivers of the success of a viral marketing campaign. We also conducted a study of the Portuguese telecommunications industry, in particular, the mobile segment. We found that the three main players operating in this market have been using social media successfully as a marketing tool in a strategic approach to the 14-25 years old segment.

Wealth Management in Africa: The Cape Verde Opportunity

This work project consists of a comprehensive study of the possibility of opening a Wealth Management (WM) firm located in Cape Verde (CV), and was made at the request of NovoBanco’s Research Sectorial team. WM is a growing industry that consists in the set of financial services provided to wealthy clients. After taking into account the expected industry growth of the Sub-Saharan region, the preferences of the African wealthy, the current industry structure, and the advantages and disadvantages of locating a WM business in CV, it is concluded that a business opportunity exists. The reasons for thus, along with relevant recommendations, including which services a new business should offer and whom to target specifically, are presented in the final section.

EDP - A new estimation algorithm

The aim of this work project is to analyze the current algorithm used by EDP to estimate their clients’ electrical energy consumptions, create a new algorithm and compare the advantages and disadvantages of both. This new algorithm is different from the current one as it incorporates some effects from temperature variations. The results of the comparison show that this new algorithm with temperature variables performed better than the same algorithm without temperature variables, although there is still potential for further improvements of the current algorithm, if the prediction model is estimated using a sample of daily data, which is the case of the current EDP algorithm.

Geopolymers as infill material for conservation of azulejos

The restoration materials currently used to fill gaps in architectural historical azulejos (e.g. lime or organic resin pastes) usually show serious drawbacks in terms of compatibility, effectiveness and durability. The existing solutions do not fully protect azulejos in outdoor conditions and frequently result in further deterioration. Geopolymers can be a potential solution for azulejo lacunae infill given the chemical-mineralogical similitude to the ceramic body, and also the durability and versatile range of physical properties that can be obtained through the manipulation of their formulation and curing conditions. This work presents and discusses the viability of the use of geopolymeric pastes to fill lacunae in azulejos or to act as “cold” cast ceramic tile surrogates reproducing missing azulejo fragments. The formulation of geopolymers, namely the type of activators, the aluminosilicate source, the amount of water (to meet adequate workability requirements) and curing conditions were studied. The need for post-curing desalination was also considered envisaging their application in the restoration of outdoor architectural historical azulejos frequently exposed to adverse environmental conditions. The possible advantages and disadvantages of the use of geopolymers in the conservation of azulejos are also discussed. Several techniques were used to study the chemical and physical behavior of geopolymers, namely FT-IR, XRD, MIP, SEM-EDS, WDXRF, electrical conductivity, open porosity, bending strength, adhesion strength, water vapour permeability, thermal expansion and hydric expansion. The results indicate that geopolymers are a promising material for restoration of azulejos, exhibiting some properties, such as adhesion to the ceramic substrate, higher than inorganic materials used nowadays, such as aerial lime based pastes.

O papel dos Sistemas de Informação Geográfica no planeamento, projecto e manutenção da Rede de Distribuição de Energia Eléctrica

Este relatório de estágio representa o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia, com recurso a Tecnologias de Informação Geográfica, que permite a identificação de zonas que condicionam os processos de planeamento, projecto e manutenção das estruturas que compõem a Rede de Distribuição de Energia Eléctrica. Centra-se assim nas Tecnologias de Informação Geográfica enquanto instrumentos que permitem realizar estudos de carácter territorial com relevância para o sector energético. São trabalhadas a identificação e delimitação de zonas de gelo, zonas de poluição industrial e zonas de salinidade em Portugal Continental. A delimitação destas zonas foi realizada com recurso a ferramentas de análise espacial, utilizando dados fidedignos provenientes de Instituições da Administração Pública. São documentadas também tarefas extraordinárias propostas pela EDP Distribuição - Energia, S.A. Desta forma é possível compreender as vantagens e desvantagens da utilização destas tecnologias por parte da EDP Distribuição, de forma a melhorar a gestão dos recursos disponíveis, para ajudar a manter a qualidade do serviço prestado. Ficou no entanto a recomendação de uma maior aposta nestas tecnologias.