Integrating Social Knowledge and Collaboration Tools into Dispersed Product Development

Employee collaboration and knowledge sharing is vital for manufacturing organisations wishing to be successful in an ever-changing global market place; Product Development (PD) teams, in particular, rely heavily on these activities to generate innovative designs and enhancements to existing product ranges. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of a validation study carried out during an Engineering Education Scheme project to confirm the benefits of using bespoke Web 2.0-based groupware to improve employee collaboration and knowledge sharing between dispersed PD teams. The results of a cross-sectional survey concluded that employees would welcome greater usage of social computing technologies. The study confirmed that groupware offers the potential to deliver a more effective collaborative and knowledge sharing environment with additional communication channels on offer. Furthermore, a series of recommended guidelines are presented to show how PD teams, operating in globally dispersed organisations, may use Web 2.0 tools to improve employee collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Accessibility Planning tools for sustainable and integrated Land Use/Transport (LUT) development: an application to Rome

The paper fits into the themes of sustainable accessibility planning in urban areas, that can be defined as the integration of transport and land use planning to achieve sustainable development. In particular the study proposes a tool to support the choices of activities location, which is based on a new aggregate (zone-specific) indicator: the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating one new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. The proposed indicator is validated through an application to the urban area of Rome.

Using Modern Tools to Explain the Use of the Smith Chart

The concept of explaining the use of an old tool like the Smith chart, using modern tools like MATLAB [1] scripts in combination with e-learning facilities, is exemplified by two MATLAB scripts. These display, step by step, the graphical procedure that must be used to solve the double-stub impedance-matching problem. These two scripts correspond to two different possible ways to analyze this matching problem, and they are important for students to learn by themselves.

How new online communication tools and the availability of content influence the audiences and the creative process

We live in a changing world. At an impressive speed, every day new technological resources appear. We increasingly use the Internet to obtain and share information, and new online communication tools are emerging. Each of them encompasses new potential and creates new audiences. In recent years, we witnessed the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media platforms. They have provided us with an even greater interactivity between sender and receiver, as well as generated a new sense of community. At the same time we also see the availability of content like it never happened before. We are increasingly sharing texts, videos, photos, etc. This poster intends to explore the potential of using these new online communication tools in the cultural sphere to create new audiences, to develop of a new kind of community, to provide information as well as different ways of building organizations’ memory. The transience of performing arts is accompanied by the need to counter that transience by means of documentation. This desire to ‘save’ events reaches its expression with the information archive of the different production moments as well as the opportunity to record the event and present it through, for instance, digital platforms. In this poster we intend to answer the following questions: which online communication tools are being used to engage audiences in the cultural sphere (specifically between theater companies in Lisbon)? Is there a new relationship with the public? Are online communication tools creating a new kind of community? What changes are these tools introducing in the creative process? In what way the availability of content and its archive contribute to the organization memory? Among several references, we will approach the two-way communication model that James E. Grunig & Todd T. Hunt (1984) already presented and the concept of mass self-communication of Manuel Castells (2010). Castells also tells us that we have moved from traditional media to a system of communication networks. For Scott Kirsner (2010), we have entered an era of digital creativity, where artists have the tools to do what they imagined and the public no longer wants to just consume cultural goods, but instead to have a voice and participate. The creativity process is now depending on the public choice as they wander through the screen. It is the receiver who owns an object which can be exchanged. Virtual reality has encouraged the receiver to abandon its position of passive observer and to become a participant agent, which implies a challenge to organizations: inventing new forms of interfaces. Therefore, we intend to find new and effective online tools that can be used by cultural organizations; the best way to manage them; to show how organizations can create a community with the public and how the availability of online content and its archive can contribute to the organizations’ memory.

Cutting forces and wear analysis of Si3N4 diamond coated tools in high speed machining

Si3N4 tools were coated with a thin diamond film using a Hot-Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition (HFCVD) reactor, in order to machining a grey cast iron. Wear behaviour of these tools in high speed machining was the main subject of this work. Turning tests were performed with a combination of cutting speeds of 500, 700 and 900 m min−1, and feed rates of 0.1, 0.25 and 0.4 mm rot−1, remaining constant the depth of cut of 1 mm. In order to evaluate the tool behaviour during the turning tests, cutting forces were analyzed being verified a significant increase with feed rate. Diamond film removal occurred for the most severe set of cutting parameters. It was also observed the adhesion of iron and manganese from the workpiece to the tool. Tests were performed on a CNC lathe provided with a 3-axis dynamometer. Results were collected and registered by homemade software. Tool wear analysis was achieved by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) provided with an X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) system. Surface analysis was performed by a profilometer.

Anti-vibration gloves and the forearm efforts during tools operations

The objective of this paper is to analyze the forearm muscular contraction levels associated to the use of anti-vibration gloves, by comparing the contraction levels with gloves and without gloves. Two different vibration tools were used in a simulated work environment: (1) A compact Duty Multi-Cutter Bosch and (2) and a Percussion Drill with a drill bit Ø20 mm. Standard operations were performed by each subject in the following materials: (1) Performing cross- sectional cuts in 80x40 mm pine section and (2) performing 20 mm diameter holes in a concrete slab 2 x 2 m, 70 mm thick. The forearm contraction level were measured by surface electromyography in four different muscles: Flexor Digitorum Superficialis (FDS), Flexor Carpi Ulnaris (FCU), Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus (ECRL) e Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (ECU). For the flexor muscles (FDS, FCU), an increase tendency in muscular contraction was observed when the operations are performed without gloves (2-5% MVE increase in the FDS and 3-9% MVE increase in the FCU). For the extensor muscles ECU a decrease tendency in muscular contraction was observed when the operations are performed without gloves (1-10% MVE decrease). Any tendency was found in the ECRL muscle. ECU was the muscle with the highest contraction level for 79% and 71% of the operators, during the operations respectively with the multi-cutter (P50= 27-30%MVE) and with the percussion drill (P50=46-55%MVE). As a final conclusion from this study, anti- vibration gloves may increase the forearm fatigue in the posterior region of the forearm (ECU muscle) during operations with the mentioned tools

Downstream processing development of enveloped viruses for clinical applications: innovative tools for rational process optimization

Dissertation presented to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Engineering and Technology Sciences, Biotechnology at the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Adapting Meeting Tools to Agent Decision

Electricity markets are complex environments comprising several negotiation mechanisms. MASCEM (Multi- Agent System for Competitive Electricity Markets) is a simulator developed to allow deep studies of the interactions between the players that take part in the electricity market negotiations. ALBidS (Adaptive Learning Strategic Bidding System) 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 paper aims to complement ALBidS strategies usage by MASCEM players, providing, through the Six Thinking Hats group decision technique, a means to combine them and take advantages from their different perspectives. The combination of the different proposals resulting from ALBidS’ strategies is performed through the application of a Genetic Algorithm, resulting in an evolutionary learning approach.

Models and tools for value systems analysis in collaborative environments

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Doctor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specialization of Collaborative Networks

Reconstrução de Superfícies usando um Scanner 3D de Luz Estruturada

Ao longo dos últimos anos, os scanners 3D têm tido uma utilização crescente nas mais variadas áreas. Desde a Medicina à Arqueologia, passando pelos vários tipos de indústria, ´e possível identificar aplicações destes sistemas. Essa crescente utilização deve-se, entre vários factores, ao aumento dos recursos computacionais, à simplicidade e `a diversidade das técnicas existentes, e `as vantagens dos scanners 3D comparativamente com outros sistemas. Estas vantagens são evidentes em áreas como a Medicina Forense, onde a fotografia, tradicionalmente utilizada para documentar objectos e provas, reduz a informação adquirida a duas dimensões. Apesar das vantagens associadas aos scanners 3D, um factor negativo é o preço elevado. No âmbito deste trabalho pretendeu-se desenvolver um scanner 3D de luz estruturada económico e eficaz, e um conjunto de algoritmos para o controlo do scanner, para a reconstrução de superfícies de estruturas analisadas, e para a validação dos resultados obtidos. O scanner 3D implementado ´e constituído por uma câmara e por um projector de vídeo ”off-the-shelf”, e por uma plataforma rotativa desenvolvida neste trabalho. A função da plataforma rotativa consiste em automatizar o scanner de modo a diminuir a interação dos utilizadores. Os algoritmos foram desenvolvidos recorrendo a pacotes de software open-source e a ferramentas gratuitas. O scanner 3D foi utilizado para adquirir informação 3D de um crânio, e o algoritmo para reconstrução de superfícies permitiu obter superfícies virtuais do crânio. Através do algoritmo de validação, as superfícies obtidas foram comparadas com uma superfície do mesmo crânio, obtida por tomografia computorizada (TC). O algoritmo de validação forneceu um mapa de distâncias entre regiões correspondentes nas duas superfícies, que permitiu quantificar a qualidade das superfícies obtidas. Com base no trabalho desenvolvido e nos resultados obtidos, é possível afirmar que foi criada uma base funcional para o varrimento de superfícies 3D de estruturas, apta para desenvolvimento futuro, mostrando que é possível obter alternativas aos métodos comerciais usando poucos recursos financeiros.

Cation transporters/channels in plants: Tools for nutrient biofortification

Cation transporters/channels are key players in a wide range of physiological functions in plants, including cell signaling, osmoregulation, plant nutrition and metal tolerance. The recent identification of genes encoding some of these transport systems has allowed new studies toward further understanding of their integrated roles in plant. This review summarizes recent discoveries regarding the function and regulation of the multiple systems involved in cation transport in plant cells. The role of membrane transport in the uptake, distribution and accumulation of cations in plant tissues, cell types and subcellular compartments is described. We also discuss how the knowledge of inter- and intra-species variation in cation uptake, transport and accumulation as well as the molecular mechanisms responsible for these processes can be used to increase nutrient phytoavailability and nutrients accumulation in the edible tissues of plants. The main trends for future research in the field of biofortification are proposed.

Effectiveness of online marketing tools

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Introduction: digital methods and tools for historical research

As an introduction to a series of articles focused on the exploration of particular tools and/or methods to bring together digital technology and historical research, the aim of this paper is mainly to highlight and discuss in what measure those methodological approaches can contribute to improve analytical and interpretative capabilities available to historians. In a moment when the digital world present us with an ever-increasing variety of tools to perform extraction, analysis and visualization of large amounts of text, we thought it would be relevant to bring the digital closer to the vast historical academic community. More than repeating an idea of digital revolution introduced in the historical research, something recurring in the literature since the 1980s, the aim was to show the validity and usefulness of using digital tools and methods, as another set of highly relevant tools that the historians should consider. For this several case studies were used, combining the exploration of specific themes of historical knowledge and the development or discussion of digital methodologies, in order to highlight some changes and challenges that, in our opinion, are already affecting the historians' work, such as a greater focus given to interdisciplinarity and collaborative work, and a need for the form of communication of historical knowledge to become more interactive.