Development of Planning And Evaluation Models For Superstreets

Despite the extensive implementation of Superstreets on congested arterials, reliable methodologies for such designs remain unavailable. The purpose of this research is to fill the information gap by offering reliable tools to assist traffic professionals in the design of Superstreets with and without signal control. The entire tool developed in this thesis consists of three models. The first model is used to determine the minimum U-turn offset length for an Un-signalized Superstreet, given the arterial headway distribution of the traffic flows and the distribution of critical gaps among drivers. The second model is designed to estimate the queue size and its variation on each critical link in a signalized Superstreet, based on the given signal plan and the range of observed volumes. Recognizing that the operational performance of a Superstreet cannot be achieved without an effective signal plan, the third model is developed to produce a signal optimization method that can generate progression offsets for heavy arterial flows moving into and out of such an intersection design.

A Repartição de Operações do Quartel-General e o desempenho operacional do Corpo Expedicionário Português

A Repartição de Operações do Estado-Maior do Corpo Expedicionário Português foi responsável pela coordenação das tropas portuguesas na frente ocidental e pela integração da força no dispositivo britânico. Elaborou o plano de defesa do setor atribuído e emitiu uma série de ordens para gerir as operações correntes. Com este trabalho pretendeu-se compreender a atividade desta repartição e o respetivo impacto no desempenho operacional do Corpo. Foram identificados os fatores que marcaram a beligerância portuguesa, que mais influência tiveram na repartição e no desempenho do Corpo, avaliado o impacto da estrutura da força e do seu Estado-Maior, identificados os fatores mais relevantes do setor atribuído e do seu dispositivo com impacto no desempenho e ainda determinado o papel da repartição durante a condução das operações. Com o intuito de atingir os objetivos propostos, foi analisado um conjunto de fontes, fundamentalmente do Arquivo Histórico Militar e da Biblioteca do Exército, para recolha de informação, e bibliografia nacional e estrangeira acerca do tema. Concluímos que a repartição contribuiu para o normal desempenho do CEP, não tendo sido identificados erros cometidos pela mesma com impacto negativo na prestação da força. Abstract: The Operations Division of the General Staff of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps was responsible for coordinating the Portuguese troops on the western front and for the integration of the force in British defense system. It prepared the defense plan for the assigned sector, and issued several orders to manage current operations. This work was intended to understand the activity of this division and its impact on the operational performance of CEP. Were identified the factors that marked the Portuguese belligerence which more influence had in the Operations Division and CEP's performance, assessed the impact of the force structure and its staff, identified the most important factors of the assigned sector and its force structure with impact on performance and also determined the role of the operations division during the operations. In order to achieve the proposed goals, we studied a number of sources, mainly from the Military Historical Archives and the Library of the Army for information collection, and also from national and foreign literature on the subject. We conclude that the operations division contributed to the normal performance of the CEP, and didn’t identify errors committed by it with negative impact on the force performance.

A Gestão de Recursos Humanos na Guarda Nacional Republicana e o Empenhamento Organizacional

Considerada um dos elementos basilares para uma cabal e completa prossecução dos objetivos das instituições, a avaliação de desempenho permite valorizar o elemento distintivo das organizações, o ser humano. É neste contexto holístico, centrado na necessidade objetiva de incrementar o empenhamento organizacional, que a Guarda Nacional Republicana procura, através da aplicação do seu Regulamento de Avaliação de Mérito, avaliar o desempenho dos seus militares, no sentido de verificar em que medida estes contribuem para os fins últimos definidos para a instituição. Deste modo, torna-se evidente a importância de, concomitantemente, investigar de que forma este sistema de avaliação é aceite, interiorizado e percebido pelos militares da instituição e compreender se esse sistema de avaliação se assume como uma mais-valia objetiva na promoção do empenho operacional, permitindo o desenvolvimento da carreira dos mais capazes e orientados para a tarefa institucional. Assim, considerando a unicidade que se encontra adjudicada à categoria profissional de Oficiais, únicos elementos do sistema avaliativo que são, cumulativamente, avaliados e avaliadores, a presente pesquisa, através da aplicação de um questionário a uma amostra de 294 Oficiais, procura saber qual é a representação social que estes têm do sistema de avaliação em vigor na Guarda Nacional Republicana. Abstract: Seen as an essential element for a complete and exact prosecution of the institution’s aims, the evaluation of the performance allows the recognition of the organization’s distinctive element, the human being. It’s in this holistic context, centralized around the objective need to increment the organizational commitment, that the Guarda Nacional Republicana tries to evaluate the performance of its militaries, through the application of its Merit Assessment Regulations, as a manner of verifying the way these contribute to the defined aims of the institution. Therefore, it is of evident importance the investigation that, concomitantly, analyses how the evaluation system is accepted, interiorized and understood by the militaries of the institution, along with understanding how much that same evaluation system comes as an objective advantage on the promotion of the operational performance, allowing the development of the career of the more capable and guided for the institutional mission. According to this, and considering the unity that is adjudicated to the professional category of Officials, the only elements of the evaluation system that are both evaluated and evaluators, this research, through the use of a set of questions made to a sample of 294 Officials, tries to discover the social representation that they have of the evaluation system that is now applied in the Guarda Nacional Republicana.

Equity Research - Cork Supply Portugal

Mestrado em Finanças

Feasibility study and flow scheduling optimization of a multi-product pipeline system

The first goal of this study is to analyse a real-world multiproduct onshore pipeline system in order to verify its hydraulic configuration and operational feasibility by constructing a simulation model step by step from its elementary building blocks that permits to copy the operation of the real system as precisely as possible. The second goal is to develop this simulation model into a user-friendly tool that one could use to find an “optimal” or “best” product batch schedule for a one year time period. Such a batch schedule could change dynamically as perturbations occur during operation that influence the behaviour of the entire system. The result of the simulation, the ‘best’ batch schedule is the one that minimizes the operational costs in the system. The costs involved in the simulation are inventory costs, interface costs, pumping costs, and penalty costs assigned to any unforeseen situations. The key factor to determine the performance of the simulation model is the way time is represented. In our model an event based discrete time representation is selected as most appropriate for our purposes. This means that the time horizon is divided into intervals of unequal lengths based on events that change the state of the system. These events are the arrival/departure of the tanker ships, the openings and closures of loading/unloading valves of storage tanks at both terminals, and the arrivals/departures of trains/trucks at the Delivery Terminal. In the feasibility study we analyse the system’s operational performance with different Head Terminal storage capacity configurations. For these alternative configurations we evaluated the effect of different tanker ship delay magnitudes on the number of critical events and product interfaces generated, on the duration of pipeline stoppages, the satisfaction of the product demand and on the operative costs. Based on the results and the bottlenecks identified, we propose modifications in the original setup.

Floating wave energy converters: wave measurement & analysis techniques

The wave energy industry is entering a new phase of pre-commercial and commercial deployments of full-scale devices, so better understanding of seaway variability is critical to the successful operation of devices. The response of Wave Energy Converters to incident waves govern their operational performance and for many devices, this is highly dependent on spectral shape due to their resonant properties. Various methods of wave measurement are presented, along with analysis techniques and empirical models. Resource assessments, device performance predictions and monitoring of operational devices will often be based on summary statistics and assume a standard spectral shape such as Pierson-Moskowitz or JONSWAP. Furthermore, these are typically derived from the closest available wave data, frequently separated from the site on scales in the order of 1km. Therefore, variability of seaways from standard spectral shapes and spatial inconsistency between the measurement point and the device site will cause inaccuracies in the performance assessment. This thesis categorises time and frequency domain analysis techniques that can be used to identify changes in a sea state from record to record. Device specific issues such as dimensional scaling of sea states and power output are discussed along with potential differences that arise in estimated and actual output power of a WEC due to spectral shape variation. This is investigated using measured data from various phases of device development.

Computational tool for three-point hitch geometry optimization

The weight-transfer effect, consisting of the change in dynamic load distribution between the front and the rear tractor axles, is one of the most impairing phenomena for the performance, comfort, and safety of agricultural operations. Excessive weight transfer from the front to the rear tractor axle can occur during operation or maneuvering of implements connected to the tractor through the three-point hitch (TPH). In this respect, an optimal design of the TPH can ensure better dynamic load distribution and ultimately improve operational performance, comfort, and safety. In this study, a computational design tool (The Optimizer) for the determination of a TPH geometry that minimizes the weight-transfer effect is developed. The Optimizer is based on a constrained minimization algorithm. The objective function to be minimized is related to the tractor front-to-rear axle load transfer during a simulated reference maneuver performed with a reference implement on a reference soil. Simulations are based on a 3-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) dynamic model of the tractor-TPH-implement aggregate. The inertial, elastic, and viscous parameters of the dynamic model were successfully determined through a parameter identification algorithm. The geometry determined by the Optimizer complies with the ISO-730 Standard functional requirements and other design requirements. The interaction between the soil and the implement during the simulated reference maneuver was successfully validated against experimental data. Simulation results show that the adopted reference maneuver is effective in triggering the weight-transfer effect, with the front axle load exhibiting a peak-to-peak value of 27.1 kN during the maneuver. A benchmark test was conducted starting from four geometries of a commercially available TPH. As result, all the configurations were optimized by above 10%. The Optimizer, after 36 iterations, was able to find an optimized TPH geometry which allows to reduce the weight-transfer effect by 14.9%.

Green Manufacturing: Relationship between Adoption of Green Operational Practices and Green Performance of Brazilian ISO 9001-Certified Firms

The present work aims at analyzing how the adoption of a proactive environmental management via green operational practices (GOPs) correlates to the Green Performance (GrP) of a given set of ISO 9001-certified firms in Brazil. To this end, we elaborated a conceptual framework about environmental management, GOPs, and GrP Such theoretical foundation supported the development of empirical research through quantitative analysis. For the analysis, 75 questionnaires were collected from ISO 9001 certified companies. Data was analyzed by with statistical tools such as descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results demonstrate that the adoption of GOPs, in fact, exerts a positive impact on the GrP of the firms. This work contributes to a better understanding of green manufacturing in Brazil's industrial sector

Enhancing spiral-wound ultrafiltration performance for direct drinking water treatment through operational procedures improvement: A feasible option for the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region

This work aimed to evaluate the influence of specific operational conditions on the performance of a spiral-wound ultrafiltration pilot plant for direct drinking water treatment, installed at the Guarapiranga's reservoir, in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region. Results from operational tests showed that the volume of permeate produced in the combination of periodic relaxation with flushing and chlorine dosage procedures was 49% higher than the volume obtained when these procedures were not used. Two years of continuous operation demonstrated that the ultrafiltration pilot plant performed better during fall and winter seasons, higher permeate flow production and reduced chemical cleanings frequency. Observed behavior seems to be associated with the algae bloom events in the reservoir, which are more frequent during spring and summer seasons, confirmed by chlorophyll-a analysis results. Concentrate clarification using ferric chloride was quite effective in removing NOM and turbidity, allowing its recirculation to the ultrafiltration feed tank. This procedure made it possible to reach almost 99% water recovery considering a single 54-hour recirculation cycle. Water quality monitoring demonstrated that the ultrafiltration pilot plant was quite efficient, and that potential pathogenic organisms, Escherichia coil and total coliforms, turbidity and apparent color removals were 100%, 95.1%, and 91.5%, respectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reliability of operational data from pig herds and performance ratings by veterinarians and pig farmers collected during telephone interviews for the evaluation of a PCV2 piglet vaccination

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a telephone survey in gaining an understanding of the possible herd and management factors influencing the performance (i.e. safety and efficacy) of a vaccine against porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in a large number of herds and to estimate customers¿ satisfaction.ResultsDatasets from 227 pig herds that currently applied or have applied a PCV2 vaccine were analysed. Since 1-, 2- and 3-site production systems were surveyed, the herds were allocated in one of two subsets, where only applicable variables out of 180 were analysed. Group 1 was comprised of herds with sows, suckling pigs and nursery pigs, whereas herds in Group 2 in all cases kept fattening pigs. Overall 14 variables evaluating the subjective satisfaction with one particular PCV2 vaccine were comingled to an abstract dependent variable for further models, which was characterized by a binary outcome from a cluster analysis: good/excellent satisfaction (green cluster) and moderate satisfaction (red cluster). The other 166 variables comprised information about diagnostics, vaccination, housing, management, were considered as independent variables. In Group 1, herds using the vaccine due to recognised PCV2 related health problems (wasting, mortality or porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome) had a 2.4-fold increased chance (1/OR) of belonging to the green cluster. In the final model for Group 1, the diagnosis of diseases other than PCV2, the reason for vaccine administration being other than PCV2-associated diseases and using a single injection of iron had significant influence on allocating into the green cluster (P¿<¿0.05). In Group 2, only unchanged time or delay of time of vaccination influenced the satisfaction (P¿<¿0.05).ConclusionThe methodology and statistical approach used in this study were feasible to scientifically assess ¿satisfaction¿, and to determine factors influencing farmers¿ and vets¿ opinion about the safety and efficacy of a new vaccine.

Performance of pressure control valves and flow meters precision in operational irrigation-water balance accuracy

In pressure irrigation-water distribution networks, pressure regulating devices for controlling the discharged flow rate by irrigation units are needed due to the variability of flow rate. In addition, applied water volume is used controlled operating the valve during a calculated time interval, and assuming constant flow rate. In general, a pressure regulating valve PRV is the commonly used pressure regulating device in a hydrant, which, also, executes the open and close function. A hydrant feeds several irrigation units, requiring a wide range in flow rate. In addition, some flow meters are also available, one as a component of the hydrant and the rest are placed downstream. Every land owner has one flow meter for each group of field plots downstream the hydrant. Its lecture could be used for refining the water balance but its accuracy must be taken into account. Ideal PRV performance would maintain a constant downstream pressure. However, the true performance depends on both upstream pressure and the discharged flow rate. The objective of this work is to asses the influence of the performance on the applied volume during the whole irrigation events in a year. The results of the study have been obtained introducing the flow rate into a PRV model. Variations on flow rate are simulated by taking into account the consequences of variations on climate conditions and also decisions in irrigation operation, such us duration and frequency application. The model comprises continuity, dynamic and energy equations of the components of the PRV.

Forming the link between strategic performance and operational success: The development of a balanced scorecard at Lisbon Consulting Group

Directed internship

MH 607 FEF/UNICAMP, onde saude coletiva e performance humana se encontram : uma pesquisa-ação

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física