Maintenance of fire sprinkler systems based on the dynamic assessment of its condition

Safety is one of the major concerns of process safety engineers in most industrial facilities all over the world. To this scope, some events play an important role once the effect of their consequences can be assumed as totally undesirable. One of these events refers to the occurrence of a fire. Such event can result in catastrophic consequences for life, equipment, and continuity of activities or even leading to environmental damage. A fire protection equipment with low reliability means that this equipment are often unavailable and thus the risk of a fire increases. Maintenance of fire protection equipment is very important because this kind of systems is mostly in a dormant mode, which gives uncertainty about their operability when demanded in a real situation of fire. This article outlines the importance of tests, inspection, and maintenance operations in the context of a fire sprinkler system and proposes a methodology based on international standards and supported by test/inspection reports to correct the frequency of these actions according to the level of degradation of the components and regarding safety purposes. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Time-domain optimization of amplifiers based on distributed genetic algorithms

Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Anthropocentric-based robotic and autonomous systems: assessment for new organisational options

Text based on the paper presented at the Conference "Autonomous systems: inter-relations of technical and societal issues" held at Monte de Caparica (Portugal), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, November, 5th and 6th 2009 and organized by IET-Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation

Assessment of the rapid test based on an immunochromatography technique for detecting anti-Treponema pallidum antibodies

A rapid test based on an immunochromatography assay - Determine™ Syphilis TP (Abbott Lab.) for detecting specific antibodies to Treponema pallidum was evaluated against serum samples from patients with clinical, epidemiological and serological diagnosis of syphilis, patients with sexually transmitted disease other than syphilis, and individuals with negative serology for syphilis. The Determine™ test presented the sensitivity of 93.6%, specificity of 92.5%, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 95.2% and 93.7%, respectively. One serum sample from patient with recent latent syphilis showed a prozone reaction. Determine™ is a rapid assay, highly specific and easy to perform. This technique obviates the need of equipment and its diagnostic features demonstrate that it may be applicable as an alternative assay for syphilis screening under some emergency conditions or for patients living in remote localities.

Ensemble: an innovative approach to practice computer programming

Currently, the teaching-learning process in domains, such as computer programming, is characterized by an extensive curricula and a high enrolment of students. This poses a great workload for faculty and teaching assistants responsible for the creation, delivery, and assessment of student exercises. The main goal of this chapter is to foster practice-based learning in complex domains. This objective is attained with an e-learning framework—called Ensemble—as a conceptual tool to organize and facilitate technical interoperability among services. The Ensemble framework is used on a specific domain: computer programming. Content issues are tacked with a standard format to describe programming exercises as learning objects. Communication is achieved with the extension of existing specifications for the interoperation with several systems typically found in an e-learning environment. In order to evaluate the acceptability of the proposed solution, an Ensemble instance was validated on a classroom experiment with encouraging results.

Decision making processes based on innovation indicators: which implications for technology assessment?

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment. This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Manuel Laranja (ISEG-UTL). Other members of the thesis committee are Stefan Kuhlmann (Twente University), Leonhard Hennen (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS), Tiago Santos Pereira (Universidade de Coimbra/CES) and Cristina Sousa (FCT-UNL).

Landslide susceptibility assessment in Karanganyar regency - Indonesia - Comparison of knowledge-based and Data-driven Models

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

An application of reliability-based robustness assessment of steel moment resisting frame structures under post-mainshock cascading events

The paper presented herein proposes a reliability-based framework for quantifying the structural robustness considering the occurrence of a major earthquake (mainshock) and subsequent cascading hazard events, such as aftershocks that are triggered by the mainshock. These events can significantly increase the probability of failure of buildings, especially for structures that are damaged during the mainshock. The application of the proposed framework is exemplified through three numerical case studies. The case studies correspond to three SAC steel moment frame buildings of 3-, 9-, and 20- stories, which were designed to pre-Northridge codes and standards. Twodimensional nonlinear finite element models of the buildings are developed using the Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation framework (OpenSees), using a finite-length plastic hinge beam model and a bilinear constitutive law with deterioration, and are subjected to multiple mainshock-aftershock seismic sequences. For the three buildings analyzed herein, it is shown that the structural reliability under a single seismic event can be significantly different from that under a sequence of seismic events. The reliability-based robustness indicator used shows that the structural robustness is influenced by the extent by which a structure can distribute damage.

Brain-computer interface (BCI): a methodological proposal to assess the impacts of medical applications in 2022

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment (Doctoral Conference) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 2011). This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Armin Grunwald (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS, Germany). Other members of the thesis committee are Mário Forjaz Secca (FCT-UNL) and Femke Nijboer (University of Twente, Netherlands).

Indoor location-based analytics systems: Portuguese market compettive assessment and entry procing strategy of BIPs' technology in Sonae Sierra Shopping malls stores

This project attempts to provide an in-depth competitive assessment of the Portuguese indoor location-based analytics market, and to elaborate an entry-pricing strategy for Business Intelligence Positioning System (BIPS) implementation in Portuguese shopping centre stores. The role of industry forces and company’s organizational resources platform to sustain company’s competitive advantage was explored. A customer value-based pricing approach was adopted to assess BIPS value to retailers and maximize Sonae Sierra profitability. The exploratory quantitative research found that there is a market opportunity to explore every store area types with tailored proposals, and to set higher-than-tested membership fees to allow a rapid ROI, concluding there are propitious conditions for Sierra to succeed in BIPS store’s business model in Portugal.

Implementation of a probabilistic based framework for safety assessment of existing timber elements

The assessment of existing timber structures is often limited to information obtained from non or semi destructive testing, as mechanical testing is in many cases not possible due to its destructive nature. Therefore, the available data provides only an indirect measurement of the reference mechanical properties of timber elements, often obtained through empirical based correlations. Moreover, the data must result from the combination of different tests, as to provide a reliable source of information for a structural analysis. Even if general guidelines are available for each typology of testing, there is still a need for a global methodology allowing to combine information from different sources and infer upon that information in a decision process. In this scope, the present work presents the implementation of a probabilistic based framework for safety assessment of existing timber elements. This methodology combines information gathered in different scales and follows a probabilistic framework allowing for the structural assessment of existing timber elements with possibility of inference and updating of its mechanical properties, through Bayesian methods. The probabilistic based framework is based in four main steps: (i) scale of information; (ii) measurement data; (iii) probability assignment; and (iv) structural analysis. In this work, the proposed methodology is implemented in a case study. Data was obtained through a multi-scale experimental campaign made to old chestnut timber beams accounting correlations of non and semi-destructive tests with mechanical properties. Finally, different inference scenarios are discussed aiming at the characterization of the safety level of the elements.

Hand gesture recognition system based in computer vision and machine learning

"Lecture notes in computational vision and biomechanics series, ISSN 2212-9391, vol. 19"

Ergonomic evaluation of office workplaces with Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA)

The regular use of the computer in the office contributed to the appearance of many risk factors related with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) such as maintaining static sitting postures for long time and awkward postures of the head, neck and upper limbs, leading to increased muscle activity in the cervical spine and shoulders. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of risk factors for WRMSD in an office using the Rapid Assessment Office Strain method (ROSA). Based on the results of this ergonomic evaluation, an occupational gym program was designed and implemented. Thirty-eight workplaces were evaluated using the observation of the tasks and pictures records in order to characterize those tasks in more detail. The ROSA tool was applied by an observer, who selected the appropriate score based on the worker's posture as well as the time spent in each posture. Scores were recorded for the sections of the method, specifically Chair, Monitor and Mouse and Keyboard and Telephone. The scores were recorded in a sheet developed for the method. The mean ROSA final score was 3.61 ± 0.64, for Chair section was 3.45 ± 0.55, to Monitor and Telephone section was 3.11 ± 0.61, and to Mouse and Keyboard section was 2.11 ± 0.31. The results led to understand that the analyzed tasks represent situations of risk of discomfort and, according to the methods guidelines, further research and modifications of the workplace may be necessary. It should be emphasized that these scores may not be related to the poor available equipment but with the need to optimize their use by the workers. It was noticed also that the interaction of workers with the tasks and the adopted sitting posture at the computer throughout the day have effects at a muscular level, essentially for the cervical area and shoulders. ROSA tool is an useful and easy method to assess several risk factors associated with WRMSD, also allowing the design of specific occupational gym programs.