Análise de investimento de um projeto imobiliário: armazém industrial

Análise de investimento da construção e comercialização de um armazém industrial, situado na zona Industrial de Sines, com dois pisos e 400 m2 de área de construção. Esta análise permite a tomada decisão de levar por diante a construção do imóvel, em que já se possui o terreno e a única incógnita são os custos de construção, dado que o preço de venda do imóvel acabado é estabelecido pelo mercado. Começou-se por fazer a avaliação do imóvel no estado acabado através de dois métodos de avaliação: o método comparativo ou de mercado e o método do rendimento. Para tal, utilizam-se amostras de imóveis semelhantes ao imóvel em avaliação à venda no mercado local. Na validação da amostra, utiliza-se o critério de Chauvenet. A decisão de investimento no imóvel tem por base uma abordagem estática de análise de investimento. Para tal, estimaram-se o valor do terreno e encargos, custos de construção e encargos, custos comerciais, PVT e a margem do promotor. Para um controlo rigoroso da execução do investimento numa fase posterior faz-se a avaliação do projeto de investimento, segundo uma abordagem dinâmica de análise de investimento, tendo por base o desconto de fluxos de caixa. Esta é complementada por uma análise de sensibilidade na ótica dos capitais próprios: aos custos de construção, ao tempo de construção, ao tempo de venda e ao PVT, face a um cenário base. Por último, é feito um acompanhamento continuado ao longo da obra entre os desvios dos custos de construção reais e os previstos na decisão de investimento inicial.

Políticas públicas municipais na era global: o Programa Município VerdeAzul em questão

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Society and technological evolution: challenges and opportunities

Starting from the assumption that, the organizational learning process influences, in a positive way, the innovative environment and that it shows positive effects on individual, group and organizational performance, this paper deals with the analysis of companies that provide knowledge-intensive products. Referring to the initial information obtained through an adequate survey that is still being performed since May 2009, the main goal is to identify the ways to an organizational learning, measure its importance and identify the effects on the social and economic development. Our reflexion study handles two Portuguese knowledge-rich-organizations, based on the metropolitan area of Lisbon. The paper has the following methodological structure: in the first chapter we will make a theoretical contextualization about the organizational learning; in the second chapter we will handle the data recovered using the SPSS statistics software and, afterwards, presenting the main results. Finally, starting from the main conclusions achieved, we willgive clues to an ongoing reflection.

Desenvolvimento, complexo industrial da saúde e política industrial

O artigo situa a questão da saúde no contexto do desenvolvimento nacional e da política industrial. Tomou-se a idéia de corte estruturalista, marxista e schumpeteriano, onde a indústria e as inovações constituem os elementos determinantes do dinamismo das economias capitalistas e de sua posição relativa na economia mundial. Todos os países que se desenvolveram e passaram a competir em melhores condições com os países avançados associaram uma indústria forte com uma base endógena de conhecimento, de aprendizado e de inovação. Todavia, na área da saúde essa visão é problemática, uma vez que os interesses empresariais se movem pela lógica econômica do lucro e não para o atendimento das necessidades da saúde. A noção de complexo industrial da saúde constitui uma tentativa e fornecer um referencial teórico que permita articular duas lógicas distintas: a sanitária e a do desenvolvimento econômico. O trabalho procurou mostrar, com base em dados de comércio exterior, como a desconsideração da lógica do desenvolvimento nas políticas de saúde levou a uma situação de vulnerabilidade econômica do setor que pode limitar os objetivos de universalidade, eqüidade e integralidade. Nesse contexto, propõe-se uma ruptura cognitiva e política com as visões antagônicas que colocam, de um lado, as necessidades da saúde e, de outro, da indústria. Um país que pretende chegar a uma condição de desenvolvimento e de independência requer, ao mesmo tempo, indústrias fortes e inovadoras, e um sistema de saúde inclusivo e universal.

Navegação de um robô autónomo semi-industrial usando diferentes técnicas sensoriais

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Influence of environmental temperature and humidity on the acute ventilatory response to exercise in asthmatic adolescents

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the respiratory airways affecting people of all ages, and constitutes a serious public health problem worldwide (6). Such a chronic inflammation is invariably associated with injury and repair of the bronchial epithelium known as remodelling (11). Inflammation, remodelling, and altered neural control of the airways are responsible for both recurrent exacerbations of asthma and increasingly permanent airflow obstruction (11, 29, 34). Excessive airway narrowing is caused by altered smooth muscle behaviour, in close interaction with swelling of the airway walls, parenchyma retractile forces, and enhanced intraluminal secretions (29, 38). All these functional and structural changes are associated with the characteristic symptoms of asthma – cough, chest tightness, and wheezing –and have a significant impact on patients’ daily lives, on their families and also on society (1, 24, 29). Recent epidemiological studies show an increase in the prevalence of asthma, mainly in industrial countries (12, 25, 37). The reasons for this increase may depend on host factors (e.g., genetic disposition) or on environmental factors like air pollution or contact with allergens (6, 22, 29). Physical exercise is probably the most common trigger for brief episodes of symptoms, and is assumed to induce airflow limitations in most asthmatic children and young adults (16, 24, 29, 33). Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) is defined as an intermittent narrowing of the airways, generally associated with respiratory symptoms (chest tightness, cough, wheezing and dyspnoea), occurring after 3 to 10 minutes of vigorous exercise with a maximal severity during 5 to 15 minutes after the end of the exercise (9, 14, 16, 24, 33). The definitive diagnosis of EIA is confirmed by the measurement of pre- and post-exercise expiratory flows documenting either a 15% fall in the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), or a ≥15 to 20% fall in peak expiratory flow (PEF) (9, 24, 29). Some types of physical exercise have been associated with the occurrence of bronchial symptoms and asthma (5, 15, 17). For instance, demanding activities such as basketball or soccer could cause more severe attacks than less vigorous ones such as baseball or jogging (33). The mechanisms of exercise-induced airflow limitations seem to be related to changes in the respiratory mucosa induced by hyperventilation (9, 29). The heat loss from the airways during exercise, and possibly its post-exercise rewarming may contribute to the exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) (27). Additionally, the concomitant dehydration from the respiratory mucosa during exercise leads to an increased interstitial osmolarity, which may also contribute to bronchoconstriction (4, 36). So, the risk of EIB in asthmatically predisposed subjects seems to be higher with greater ventilation rates and the cooler and drier the inspired air is (23). The incidence of EIA in physically demanding coldweather sports like competitive figure skating and ice hockey has been found to occur in up to 30 to 35% of the participants (32). In contrast, swimming is often recommended to asthmatic individuals, because it improves the functionality of respiratory muscles and, moreover, it seems to have a concomitant beneficial effect on the prevalence of asthma exacerbations (14, 26), supporting the idea that the risk of EIB would be smaller in warm and humid environments. This topic, however, remains controversial since the chlorified water of swimming pools has been suspected as a potential trigger factor for some asthmatic patients (7, 8, 20, 21). In fact, the higher asthma incidence observed in industrialised countries has recently been linked to the exposition to chloride (7, 8, 30). Although clinical and epidemiological data suggest an influence of humidity and temperature of the inspired air on the bronchial response of asthmatic subjects during exercise, some of those studies did not accurately control the intensity of the exercise (2, 13), raising speculation of whether the experienced exercise overload was comparable for all subjects. Additionally, most of the studies did not include a control group (2, 10, 19, 39), which may lead to doubts about whether asthma per se has conditioned the observed results. Moreover, since the main targeted age group of these studies has been adults (10, 19, 39), any extrapolation to childhood/adolescence might be questionable regarding the different lung maturation. Considering the higher incidence of asthma in youngsters (30) and the fact that only the works of Amirav and coworkers (2, 3) have focused on this age group, a scarcity of scientific data can be identified. Additionally, since the main environmental trigger factors, i.e., temperature and humidity, were tested separately (10, 28, 39) it would be useful to analyse these two variables simultaneously because of their synergic effect on water and heat loss by the airways (31, 33). It also appears important to estimate the airway responsiveness to exercise within moderate environmental ranges of temperature and humidity, trying to avoid extreme temperatures and humidity conditions used by others (2, 3). So, the aim of this study was to analyse the influence of moderate changes in air temperature and humidity simultaneously on the acute ventilatory response to exercise in asthmatic children. To overcome the above referred to methodological limitations, we used a 15 minute progressive exercise trial on a cycle ergometer at 3 different workload intensities, and we collected data related to heart rate, respiratory quotient, minute ventilation and oxygen uptake in order to ensure that physiological exercise repercussions were the same in both environments. The tests were done in a “normal” climatic environment (in a gymnasium) and in a hot and humid environment (swimming pool); for the latter, direct chloride exposition was avoided.

Caracterização de antioxidantes com potencial interesse industrial

Mestrado em Engenharia Química

Evaluating the efficiency of a vegetal coagulant in the treatment of industrial effluents

The present work aims at evaluating the efficiency of an organic polymer from vegetal source used as coagulant for treating different types of industrial effluents. This coagulant (Flox-QT) is obtained from the Black Acacia (Acacia mearnsii). The effluents studied were produced in petrochemical, leather, cork stoppers, metalworking, olive oil, glue, paint (printing), textile and paper industries. The parameters analyzed in the effluents before and after treatment were selected according to the type of wastewater and included pH, conductivity, apparent colour, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and some metals. The coagulant proved to be efficient for almost all effluents tested. The best results were obtained for the paper industry wastewater, with 91% removal of chemical oxygen demand and 95% of total suspended solids removal. The estimated cost of this treatment would be only 0.24 Euro per cubic meter of treated effluent, only regarding the price of the coagulant and the required dosage. The use of this coagulant is also adequate for the valorisation of the sludge obtained, which in this case could be recycled for paper production.

Desperdícios na cadeia logística no âmbito industrial

Projecto apresentado ao Instituto Politécnico do Porto para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Logística Orientada por Prof. Doutor Gouveia

Espresso coffee residues: a valuable source of unextracted compounds

Espresso spent coffee grounds were chemically characterized to predict their potential, as a source of bioactive compounds, by comparison with the ones from the soluble coffee industry. Sampling included a total of 50 samples from 14 trademarks, collected in several coffee shops and prepared with distinct coffee machines. A high compositional variability was verified, particularly with regard to such water-soluble components as caffeine, total chlorogenic acids (CGA), and minerals, supported by strong positive correlations with total soluble solids retained. This is a direct consequence of the reduced extraction efficiency during espresso coffee preparation, leaving a significant pool of bioactivity retained in the extracted grounds. Besides the lipid (12.5%) and nitrogen (2.3%) contents, similar to those of industrial coffee residues, the CGA content (478.9 mg/100 g), for its antioxidant capacity, and its caffeine content (452.6 mg/100 g), due to its extensive use in the food and pharmaceutical industries, justify the selective assembly of this residue for subsequent use.

Integration of biomonitoring and instrumental techniques to assess the air quality in an industrial area located in the coastal of Central Asturias, Spain

Throughout the world, epidemiological studies were established to examine the relationship between air pollution and mortality rates and adverse respiratory health effects. However, despite the years of discussion the correlation between adverse health effects and atmospheric pollution remains controversial, partly because these studies are frequently restricted to small and well-monitored areas. Monitoring air pollution is complex due to the large spatial and temporal variations of pollution phenomena, the high costs of recording instruments, and the low sampling density of a purely instrumental approach. Therefore, together with the traditional instrumental monitoring, bioindication techniques allow for the mapping of pollution effects over wide areas with a high sampling density. In this study, instrumental and biomonitoring techniques were integrated to support an epidemiological study that will be developed in an industrial area located in Gijon in the coastal of central Asturias, Spain. Three main objectives were proposed to (i) analyze temporal patterns of PM10 concentrations in order to apportion emissions sources, (ii) investigate spatial patterns of lichen conductivity to identify the impact of the studied industrial area in air quality, and (iii) establish relationships amongst lichen conductivity with some site-specific characteristics. Samples of the epiphytic lichen Parmelia sulcata were transplanted in a grid of 18 by 20 km with an industrial area in the center. Lichens were exposed for a 5-mo period starting in April 2010. After exposure, lichen samples were soaked in 18-MΩ water aimed at determination of water electrical conductivity and, consequently, lichen vitality and cell damage. A marked decreasing gradient of lichens conductivity relative to distance from the emitting sources was observed. Transplants from a sampling site proximal to the industrial area reached values 10-fold higher than levels far from it. This finding showed that lichens reacted physiologically in the polluted industrial area as evidenced by increased conductivity correlated to contamination level. The integration of temporal PM10 measurements and analysis of wind direction corroborated the importance of this industrialized region for air quality measurements and identified the relevance of traffic for the urban area.

Sistemas de automação e manutenção de edifícios: concepção dos sistemas de detecção e protecção contra incêndios de uma unidade industrial

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Análise e optimização dos consumos de utilidades (vapor e energia eléctrica) na Petibol – Embalagens de Plásticos, S.A.

Mestrado em Engenharia Química. Ramo optimização energética na indústria química.

Responsabilidade ambiental no perímetro industrial da Monteiro, Ribas – Indústrias, S.A.

A presente dissertação tem como intuito aplicar o regime de Responsabilidade Ambiental no perímetro industrial da Monteiro, Ribas – Indústrias, S.A.. Para tal, averiguou-se que na ordem jurídica nacional, o regime de Responsabilidade Ambiental (RA) encontra-se consagrada na legislação nacional pelo Decreto-Lei nº 147/2008 de 29 de Julho (Diploma RA),e respetivas alterações, aplicando-se a danos ambientais ou ameaças iminentes de danos ambientais causados aos recursos naturais nomeadamente “espécies e habitats naturais protegidos”, “água” e “solo”. Também se verificou que este regime introduz obrigações específicas para os operadores abrangidos, designadamente é da responsabilidade do operador aplicar as medidas de prevenção e reparação dos danos, devendo ser reportados os acontecimentos à autoridade competente, Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente. Para cumprimento do requisito da garantia financeira e sendo a Monteiro, Ribas – Indústrias, S.A. enumerada no Anexo III do Decreto-Lei nº 147/2008 de 29 de Julho, optou-se pela constituição de um fundo próprio no valor de 50.000,00€. Com recurso à metodologia proposta pela Norma Espanhola UNE 150008:2008 - Análise e avaliação do Risco Ambiental, procedeu-se à formulação de vários cenários e quantificação de riscos para a Monteiro, Ribas – Indústrias, S.A. tendo-se apurado que os riscos estavam avaliados como baixo ou moderado. Por fim, conclui-se que em Portugal, embora exista um Decreto-Lei sobre Responsabilidade Ambiental, este tema ainda não está suficientemente desenvolvido pois não permite proceder a análise e avaliação do risco ambiental, tendo sido tomado assim como referência a metodologia aplicada na Norma Espanhola UNE 150008:2008.

A engenharia Civil e a produção industrial de energia eólica

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização de Edificações