Ser lean project- Internship at Millennium BCP

Financial institutions are turning their attentions to lean methodology. Strong competitive financial markets demand that organizations search for new ways to achieve competitive advantage. Lean thinking proposes a new method to reach high efficiency: the kaizen approach, which advocates a change in the mind set of all stakeholders towards continuous improvement. In this work project is represented the lean methodology applied at the bank, from a bottom-up spirit, as well as the evaluation of the benefits and the achievement of the proposed goals.

Assessment of schistosomiasis in the semi-arid Northeast region of Brazil: the São Francisco River large-scale water transposition project

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Risk of schistosomiasis expansion to semi-arid northeastern Brazil under the influence of the Integration Project of the São Francisco River (IPSFR) was assessed. METHODS: Stool examinations of schoolchildren, epidemiological investigation, and survey of the local host snail Biomphalaria straminea were performed in five IPSFR municipalities. RESULTS Six of 4,770 examined schoolchildren were egg-positive for Schistosoma mansoni. Biomphalaria straminea was widespread, but not naturally infected with S. mansoni. Snails experimentally exposed to two laboratory S. mansoni strains yielded infection indices of 1-4.5%. CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence of active schistosomiasis transmission in the area; thus, intensive surveillance actions are required.

Orifice diseases project - experience of the "Hospital das Clínicas" University of São Paulo Medical Center in day-hospital of anorectal disease

The treatment of malignant or benign colorectal pathologies that require more complex management are priorities in tertiary hospitals such as "Hospital das Clínicas" University of São Paulo Medical Center (HCFMUSP). Therefore, benign, uncomplicated orifice conditions are relegated to second place. The number of patients with hemorrhoids, perianal fistulas, fissures, condylomas and pilonidal cysts who seek treatment at the HFMUSP is very great, resulting in over-crowding in the outpatient clinics and a long waiting list for recommended surgical treatment (at times over 18 months). The authors describe the experience of the HCFMUSP over an eight-day period with day-hospital surgery in which 140 patients underwent surgery. Data was prospectively taken on the patients undergoing surgery for benign orifice pathologies including age, sex, diagnosis, surgery performed, immediate and late postoperative complications, and follow-up. 140 patients operated on over eight days were studied. 68 were males (48.75%) with ages ranging from 25 to 62 (mean 35.2 yrs.). Hemorrhoids was the most frequent condition encountered (82 hemorrhoidectomies, 58.6%), followed by perineal fistula (28 fistula repairs, 20.0%). The most common complication was headache secondary to rachianesthesia occurring in 9 patients (6.4%). One patient (0.7%) developed bleeding immediately PO that required reoperation. Mean follow-up was 104 days. Day-surgery characterized by quality care and low morbidity is feasible in tertiary public hospitals, permitting surgery for benign orifice pathologies on many patients within a short period of time.

Cataract surgery: expectations of patients assisted during a community project in São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To identify social characteristics and expectations of individuals seen during a community project for the treatment of senile cataracts. Expected results from their eye surgery and its consequences to their quality of life were studied as well. METHODOLOGY: Cataract patients (visual acuity equal to or lower than 0.2 in the more superior eye) aged 50 years or over, were surveyed by means of interviews held during their visit at the Cataract Project in São Paulo city, State of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1999. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 331 subjects of low socioeconomic level ranging in age from 50 to 97 years (average = 71.8 years). Expectation of total recovery from the cataract condition by means of surgery was declared by 80.0% of the respondents, with no significant differences between male and female subjects (P < 0.1723). Hope to resume manual activities was expressed by 59.8%. CONCLUSION: A predominance of expectations of resuming normal activity and achieving a better quality of life after cataract surgery were identified.

Consulting project for the marketing oil department of Galp Energia evaluation of marketing campaigns

Field lab: Consulting lab

NSP work project investment styles

This paper analyzes the Nova Student Portfolio (NSP) with the objective to understand performances of the fund. Each investment style has been analyzed (growth, value and momentum) in order to highlight what style allocation contributed positively and which had a negative impact. The results show that the team mainly invested in value stocks, which contributed positively but that its growth investments had a negative impact on the stock picking performance. The stock selection shows a major influence of the value investment style. A statistical approach shows that the market factor was the one explaining the most the NSP returns.

Economics consulting project for the Iberian Marketing Oil department of Galp Energia: Strategy and Marketing guidelines for Galp Energia’sconvenience business in the Iberian market

Field lab: Consulting lab

Consulting project for the Iberian marketing Oil department of Galp Energia: Strategy and marketing guidelines for Galp Energia's convenience business in the Iberian market

Field lab: Consulting lab

Consulting project for Câmara Municipal de Cascais street vending in Portugal- creation and development of a new sales channel

Field lab: Consulting lab

An essay on agile project management practices

The main goals for the current dissertation is to research on how practices and concepts from Agile Project Management can be applied in a non-IT context and to discover which aspects should be considered when deciding if whether an Agile approach should be implemented or not. Previous studies reflect on the adoption for the identified context. However, the recognition of these practices and concepts by the Project Management field of studies still remains unresolved. The adoption of Agile Project Management emerges as a manifestation against traditional approaches, mainly due to their inability of accepting requirements’ changes. Therefore, these practices and concepts can be considered in order to reduce the risks concerning the increase of competition and innovation – which does not apply to the IT sector solely. The current study reviews the literature on Agile Project Management and its adoption across different sectors in order to assess which practices and concepts can be applied on a non-IT context. Nine different methods are reviewed, where two of these show a higher relevance – Scrum and Extreme Programming. The identified practices and concepts can be separated into four different groups: Cultural and Organizational Structures, Process, Practices, and Artefacts. A framework based on the work by Boehm & Turner in 2004 is developed in order to support the decision of adopting agile methods. A survey intended for project managers was carried in order to assess the implementation of the identified practices and concepts and to evaluate which variables have the highest importance on the developed decision support framework. It is concluded that New Product Development is the project type with the highest potential to implement an agile approach and that the Project Final Product’s Innovativeness, Competitiveness, and the Project Member’s Experience and Autonomy are the most important aspects to consider an implementation of an Agile approach.

On project finance and the first road concession in Portugal

In broad sense, Project Financing1 as a mean of financing large scale infrastructural projects worldwide has had a steady growth in popularity for the last 20 years. This growth has been relatively unscathed from most economic cycles. However in the wake of the 2007 systemic Financial Crisis, Project Financing was also in trouble. The liquidity freeze and credit crunch that ensued affected all parties involved. Traditional Lenders, of this type of financial instrument, locked-in long-term contractual obligations, were severely hit with scarcity of funding compounded by rapidly increasing cost of funding. All the while, Banks were “rescued” by the concerted actions of Central Banks and other Multi-Lateral Agencies around the world but at the same time “stressed” by upcoming regulatory effort (Basel Committee). This impact resulted in specific changes to this type of long-term financing. Changes such as Commercial Banks’ increased risk aversion; pricing increase and maturities decrease of credit facilities; enforcement of Market Disruption Event clauses; partial responsibility for project risk by Multilateral Agencies; and adoption of utility-like availability payments in other industrial sectors such as transportation and even social infrastructure. To the extent possible, this report is then divided in three parts. First, it begins with a more instructional part, touching academic literature (theory) and giving the Banks perspective (practice), but mostly as an overview of Project Finance for awareness’ sake. The renowned Harvard Business School professor – Benjamin Esty, states2 that Project Finance is a “relatively unexplored territory for both empirical and theoretical research” which means that academic research efforts are lagging the practice of Project Finance. Second, the report presents a practical case regarding the first Road Concession in Portugal in 1998 ending with the lessons learned 10 years after Financial Close. Lastly, the report concludes with the analysis of the current trends and changes to the industry post Financial Crisis of the late 2000’s. To achieve this I’ll reference relevant papers, books on the subject, online articles and my own experience in the Project Finance Department at a major Portuguese Investment Bank. Regarding the latter, with the signing of a confidentiality agreement, I’m duly omitting sensitive and proprietary bank information.

Valuing an offshore exploration project through real options analysis

This thesis applied real options analysis to the valuation of an offshore oil exploration project, taking into consideration the several options typically faced by the management team of these projects. The real options process is developed under technical and price uncertainties, where it is considered that the mean reversion stochastic process is more adequate to describe the movement of oil price throught time. The valuation is realized to two case scenarios, being the first a simplified approach to develop the intuition of the used concepts, and the later a more complete cases that is resolved using both the binomial and trinomial processes to describe oil price movement. Real options methodology demonstrated to be capable of assessing and valuing the projects options, and of overcoming common capital budgeting methodologies flexibility limitation. The added value of the application of real options is evident, but so is the method's increased complexity, which adversely influence its widespread implementation.

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).