Informação e conhecimento: fluxos e apropriação sob uma abordagem crítica

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Gestão do risco em mercados de energia eléctrica recorrendo ao VaR por simulação de Monte Carlo

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica – Sistemas Eléctricos de Energia.

Adaptive learning in agents behaviour: a framework for electricity markets simulation

Electricity markets are complex environments with very particular characteristics. A critical issue regarding these specific characteristics concerns the constant changes they are subject to. This is a result of the electricity markets’ restructuring, which was performed so that the competitiveness could be increased, but it also had exponential implications in the increase of the complexity and unpredictability in those markets scope. The constant growth in markets unpredictability resulted in an amplified need for market intervenient entities in foreseeing market behaviour. The need for understanding the market mechanisms and how the involved players’ interaction affects the outcomes of the markets, contributed to the growth of usage of simulation tools. Multi-agent based software is particularly well fitted to analyze dynamic and adaptive systems with complex interactions among its constituents, such as electricity markets. This dissertation presents ALBidS – Adaptive Learning strategic Bidding System, a multiagent system created to provide decision support to market negotiating players. This system is integrated with the MASCEM electricity market simulator, so that its advantage in supporting a market player can be tested using cases based on real markets’ data. ALBidS considers several different methodologies based on very distinct approaches, to provide alternative suggestions of which are the best actions for the supported player to perform. The approach chosen as the players’ actual action is selected by the employment of reinforcement learning algorithms, which for each different situation, simulation circumstances and context, decides which proposed action is the one with higher possibility of achieving the most success. Some of the considered approaches are supported by a mechanism that creates profiles of competitor players. These profiles are built accordingly to their observed past actions and reactions when faced with specific situations, such as success and failure. The system’s context awareness and simulation circumstances analysis, both in terms of results performance and execution time adaptation, are complementary mechanisms, which endow ALBidS with further adaptation and learning capabilities.

Le lexique fourni et interiorisé: un moyen efficace pour construire un genre ?

Cet article présente les premiers résultats d’une recherche s’intéressant à l’articulation entre imitation et invention dans l’écriture chez les jeunes scripteurs. L’étude s’attache à observer les modes de récupération de ressources textuelles fournies par les conditions de production. L’expérimentation a été conçue pour observer l’appropriation d’un genre. Des dispositifs didactiques ont été proposés à plusieurs classes de fin d’école primaire française, à partir de textes littéraires issus de la robinsonnade mis à disposition soit simultanément à l’acte d’écriture soit lors d’une seconde écriture. L’étude montre comment les élèves ont recours à deux procédés contrastés : le réinvestissement du lexique et la reformulation. Les données recueillies mettent en évidence la reprise attendue de mots caractéristiques du genre, et révèlent l’ingéniosité des scripteurs pour restructurer des matériaux langagiers. Certaines stratégies témoignent des difficultés rencontrées par les élèves qui ont eu à interpréter le lexique littéraire puis à le transférer dans leur propre récit. Des modes de reformulation différents coexistent dont on peut offrir une première catégorisation en fonction d’une appropriation plus ou moins réussie du genre considéré.

Six thinking hats for electricity markets simulation: adapting meeting tools to agent decision

In almost all industrialized countries, the energy sector has suffered a severe restructuring that originated a greater complexity in market players’ interactions. The complexity that these changes brought made way for the creation of decision support tools that facilitate the study and understanding of these markets. MASCEM – “Multiagent Simulator for Competitive Electricity Markets” arose in this context providing a framework for evaluating new rules, new behaviour, and new participants in deregulated electricity markets. MASCEM uses game theory, machine learning techniques, scenario analysis and optimisation techniques to model market agents and to provide them with decision-support. ALBidS is a multiagent system created to provide decision support to market negotiating players. Fully integrated with MASCEM it considers several different methodologies based on very distinct approaches. The Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique used to look at decisions from different perspectives. This tool’s goal is to force the thinker to move outside his habitual thinking style. It was developed to be used mainly at meetings in order to “run better meetings, make faster decisions”. This dissertation presents a study about the applicability of the Six Thinking Hats technique in Decision Support Systems, particularly with the multiagent paradigm like the MASCEM simulator. As such this work’s proposal is of a new agent, a meta-learner based on STH technique that organizes several different ALBidS’ strategies and combines the distinct answers into a single one that, expectedly, out-performs any of them.

A neutralidade fiscal no caso da fusão inversa

Mestrado em Fiscalidade

A influência do acompanhamento em suporte digital na motivação dos alunos de saxofone: relatório de estágio

I (Prática pedagógica)- Esta secção do Relatório de Estágio pretende apresentar elementos referentes ao Estágio do Ensino Especializado da Música no ensino do saxofone, efectuado na Escola de Música Luís António Maldonado Rodrigues, no ano lectivo 2012/2013. Neste estágio foram envolvidos e analisados três alunos, em níveis distintos de desenvolvimento, mas com orientações semelhantes no que respeita à organização do trabalho. Para cada aluno foram realizados trinta planos de aula, uma planificação anual e três gravações vídeo/áudio em contexto de sala de aula, permitindo uma análise e reflexão mais profunda do trabalho docente. A secção é composta pela caracterização da escola onde se realizou o estágio, através da sua contextualização/funcionamento, dos seus espaços e equipamentos, recursos humanos existentes e organização pedagógica. Posteriormente é efectuada a caracterização dos três alunos envolvidos no estágio, baseada na experiência docente e nos conhecimentos fornecidos pelas Unidades Curriculares do Mestrado em Ensino da Música. Seguidamente descrevem-se as práticas lectivas desenvolvidas ao longo do ano lectivo por parte do docente, incorporando linhas orientadoras da docência aplicadas na prática pedagógica. É feita uma análise crítica da actividade docente no âmbito do estágio do Ensino Especializado da Música, e, por último, uma conclusão desta primeira secção. .

O contrato psicológico no empreendedorismo : o contrato como fonte de inovação

Mestrado em Gestão e Empreendedorismo

Para lá dos jornalistas: influencer relations, uma nova era de Media Relations

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Gestão Estratégica das Relações Públicas.

Main features of the labour policy in Portugal

In this working paper is presented information on the Portuguese labour market developed with the support of the European project WORKS-“Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society”. Is still a on the process article and thus commentaries are welcome. The structure is based on the following topics: a) The employment policy (Time regimes - time use, flexibility, part-time work, work-life balance -, and the work contracts regimes – wages, contract types, diversity); b) Education and training (skilling outcomes, rules on retraining and further training, employability schemes, transferability of skills); c) Equal opportunities (relevance of equal opportunity regulation for restructuring outcomes, the role of gender and age regulation); d) Restructuring effects (policy on transfer of personnel, policy on redundancies, and participation or voice in restructuring).

Tendências futuras de evolução das qualificações na Europa

The aim of this report is to highlight the importance of foresight exercises as a necessary tool to help the decision makers, allowing through projections and identification of the main trends, the identification of the key variables of the process and which ones may have more influence in the process of evolution of societies. It will be presented some examples of prospective methods and also scenarios construction. One example is the European project WORKS (Work organization restructuring in the knowledge society) that pretend to built a set of scenarios about the possible evolution of work in Europe in a short, medium and long term, stressing the key variables that may have an important role in the process and their interconnections. Another exemple is the report ‘Future skill needs in Europe’ prepared in 2008 by Cedefop, that presents data about the future development of employment by industry, occupation and qualification by 2015.

Change Processes and Future Perspectives in the Knowledge Society. The Example of Clothing and Textile Industry

The paper examines change processes und future perspectives in the knowledge society. It presents the clothing and textile industry as an example for a transforming industry in a global economy. The paper reviews existing future studies, which have surveyed change processes and future developments in the clothing and textile industry. Main goals of the review are the identification of changes in work and the description of the restructuring of global value chains within the clothing and textile sector. The paper also highlights major current trends, drivers of change and future prospects in this sector.

The First WORKS Conference on Transformation of Work in a Global Knowledge Economy

The relationship between the changes of the global economy and individual working conditions formed the background of the first WORKS conference “The transformation of work in a global knowledge economy: towards a conceptual framework”, held in Chania, Greece from 21st – 22nd September, 2006 and attended by around 50 European researchers. Experts from academia and trade unions from all over the world were invited to give insights into their field of research, contributing to one of the main topics of the conference: (i) globalisation and organisational restructuring, (ii) workers’ organisation, the quality of working life and the gender dimension and (iii) global experiences and recommendations.

The globalisation in the clothing sector and its implications for work organisation: a view from the Portuguese case

The clothing sector in Portugal is still seen, in many aspects as a traditional sector with some average characteristics, such as: low level of qualifications, less flexible labour legislation and stronger unionisation, very low salaries and low capability of investment in innovation and new technology. Is, nevertheless, a very important sector in terms of labour market, with increased weight in the exporting structure. Globalisation and delocalisation are having a strong impact in the organisation of work and in occupational careers in the sector. With the pressure of global competitiveness in what concerns time and prices, very few companies are able to keep a position in the market without changes in organisation of work and workers. And those that can perform good responses to such challenges are achieving a better economical stability. The companies have found different ways to face this reality according to size, capital and position. We could find two main paths: one where companies outsource a part or the entire production to another territory (for example, several manufacturing tasks), close and/or dismissal the workers. Other path, where companies up skilled their capacities investing, for example, in design, workers training, conception and introduction of new or original products. This paper will present some results from the European project WORKS – Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society (6th Framework Programme), focusing the Portuguese case studies in several clothing companies in what concern implications of global context for the companies in general and for the workers in particular, in a comparative analysis with some other European countries.

Application of FTA and the perceived impact on employment policies: the case of nanotechnology in the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal

In this paper we will analyse the usage of FTA to support decision-making in employment policy relate to specific occupational groups. The examples can be better understood if one focus on the nanotechnology and its implications on some sectors (clothing, bio-medical engineering, micro-electronics). When this is done will be clear which occupations will engage a restructuring process (engineers, specialised technicians, qualified machine operators, quality controllers) and what policies are being designed to cope with it. This means toward which extend social partners have driven specific policies on these issues (focused in their sectors).