Component-based software engineering: a quantitative approach

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Future gender relations in global restructuring processes case study evidence from knowledge-intensive, manufacturing and service occupations

Global restructuring processes have not only strong implications for European working and living realities, but also have specific outcomes with regard to gender relations. The following contribution analyses in which way global restructuring shapes current gender relations in order to identify important trends and developments for future gender (in)equalities at the workplace. On the basis of a large qualitative study on global restructuring and impacts on different occupational groups it argues that occupational belonging in line with skill and qualification levels are crucial factors to assess the further development of gender relations at work. Whereas global restructuring in knowledge-based occupations may provide new opportunities for female employees, current restructuring is going to deteriorate female labour participation in service occupations. In contrast, manufacturing occupations can be characterised by persistent gender relations, which do not change in spite of major restructuring processes at the work place. Taking the institutional perspective into account, it seems to be crucial to integrate the occupational perspective in order to apply adequate policy regulations to prevent the reinforcement of gender related working patterns in the near future.

Reconfigurable weblabs based on the IEEE1451 Std

Technology plays a double role in Education: it can act as a facilitator in the teaching/learning process and it can be the very subject of that process in Science & Engineering courses. This is especially true when students perform laboratory activities where they interact with equipment and objects under experimentation. In this context, technology can also play a facilitator role if it allows students to perform experiments in a remote fashion, through the Internet, in a so-called weblab or remote laboratory. No doubt, the Internet has been revolutionizing the educational process in many aspects, and it can be stated that remote laboratories are just an angle of that on-going revolution. As any other educational tool or resource, the i) pedagogical approach and the ii) technology used in the development of a remote laboratory can dictate its general success or its ephemeral existence. By pedagogical approach we consider the way remote experiments address the process by which students acquire experimental skills and link experimental results to theoretical concepts. In respect to technology, we discuss different specification and implementation alternatives, to show the case where the adoption of a family of standards would positively contribute to a larger acceptance and utilization of remote laboratories, and also to a wider collaboration in their development.

Adapting remote labs to learning scenarios: case studies using VISIR and RemotElectLab

Remote laboratories are an emergent technological and pedagogical tool at all education levels, and their widespread use is an important part of their own improvement and evolution. This paper describes several issues encountered on laboratorial classes, on higher education courses, when using remote laboratories based on PXI systems, either using the VISIR system or an alternate in-house solution. Three main issues are presented and explained, all reported by teachers, that gave support to students' use of remote laboratories. The first issue deals with the need to allow students to select the actual place where an ammeter is to be inserted on electric circuits, even incorrectly, therefore emulating real-world difficulties. The second one deals with problems with timing when several measurements are required at short intervals, as in the discharge cycle of a capacitor. In addition, the last issue deals with the use of a multimeter in dc mode when reading ac values, a use that collides with the lab settings. All scenarios are presented and discussed, including the solution found for each case. The conclusion derived from the described work is that the remote laboratories area is an expanding field, where practical use leads to improvement and evolution of the available solutions, requiring a strict cooperation and information-sharing between all actors, i.e., developers, teachers, and students.

Analysis of support for modularity in object teams based on design patterns

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

A importância da gestão baseada na criação de valor para o acionista (Value-Based Management): o caso do Grupo Galp Energia

A avaliação de empresas sempre constituiu um tema de elevada reflexão, sendo que vários especialistas tentam encontrar os modelos que melhor se adaptam a situações específicas e para as quais precisam de determinar um valor. No contexto empresarial português começa a ganhar significância a prática da gestão orientada para a criação de valor (Value-Based Management). O conceito de Value-Based Management assistiu a um particular desenvolvimento nos últimos 20 anos como resultado da globalização e desregulamentação dos mercados financeiros, dos avanços nas tecnologias de informação e do aumento da importância dos investidores institucionais. Vários analistas apresentaram evidência de que as empresas que adotam sistemas VBM melhoram o seu desempenho económico em relação a outras de dimensão semelhante no mesmo setor. É neste contexto que o EVA (Economic Value Added) se apresenta como uma métrica de desempenho privilegiada nos processos de controlo das decisões estratégicas tomadas. No presente trabalho pretendemos abordar o conceito da gestão baseada na criação de valor e a sua importância para o acionista, o que implica rever outros modelos de avaliação tradicionais baseados no valor contabilístico. Como métrica de avaliação do desempenho passado da empresa ao nível da criação de valor vamos dar particular importância ao estudo do EVA, fazendo referência à possível correlação entre esta métrica e o MVA (Market Value Added). O objetivo principal é analisar empiricamente a relação do EVA como medida de desempenho associada à criação de valor para os acionistas com a performance da empresa. Com efeito, vamos efetuar um estudo de caso, que vai incidir sobre um grupo empresarial português, referência no seu setor de atividade, o Grupo Galp Energia, cotado na Euronext Lisbon. Pensamos que a crescente prática da gestão baseada na criação de valor nas empresas cotadas em Portugal e a necessidade de aferir os resultados desta, tornam esta investigação pertinente, para além do facto de serem poucos os estudos empíricos à questão da criação de valor e a sua correlação com o valor acrescentado de mercado e com o valor de mercado dos capitais próprios das empresas cotadas em Portugal.

On the analysis of compensation correctness

One fundamental idea of service-oriented computing is that applications should be developed by composing already available services. Due to the long running nature of service interactions, a main challenge in service composition is ensuring correctness of transaction recovery. In this paper, we use a process calculus suitable for modelling long running transactions with a recovery mechanism based on compensations. Within this setting, we discuss and formally state correctness criteria for compensable processes compositions, assuming that each process is correct with respect to transaction recovery. Under our theory, we formally interpret self-healing compositions, that can detect and recover from faults, as correct compositions of compensable processes. Moreover, we develop an automated verification approach and we apply it to an illustrative case study.

Using remote labs to serve different teacher's needs a case study with VISIR and RemotElectLab

Remote Laboratories are an emergent technological and pedagogical tool at all education levels, and their widespread use is an important part of their own improvement and evolution. This paper describes several issues encountered on laboratorial classes, on higher education courses, when using remote laboratories based on PXI systems, either using the VISIR system or an alternate in-house solution. Three main issues are presented and explained, all reported by teachers that gave support to students use of remote laboratories. The first issue deals with the need to allow students to select the actual place where an ammeter is to be inserted on electric circuits, even incorrectly, therefore emulating real world difficulties. The second one deals with problems with timing when several measurements are required at short intervals, as in the discharge cycle of a capacitor. And the last issue deals with the use of a multimeter in DC mode when reading AC values, a use that collides with the lab settings. All scenarios are presented and discussed including the solution found for each case. The conclusion derived from the described work is that the remote laboratories area is an expanding field, where practical use leads to improvement and evolution of the available solutions, requiring a strict cooperation and information sharing between all actors, i.e. developers, teachers and students.

Reliability and availability in reconfigurable computing: a basis for a common solution

Dynamically reconfigurable SRAM-based field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) enable the implementation of reconfigurable computing systems where several applications may be run simultaneously, sharing the available resources according to their own immediate functional requirements. To exclude malfunctioning due to faulty elements, the reliability of all FPGA resources must be guaranteed. Since resource allocation takes place asynchronously, an online structural test scheme is the only way of ensuring reliable system operation. On the other hand, this test scheme should not disturb the operation of the circuit, otherwise availability would be compromised. System performance is also influenced by the efficiency of the management strategies that must be able to dynamically allocate enough resources when requested by each application. As those resources are allocated and later released, many small free resource blocks are created, which are left unused due to performance and routing restrictions. To avoid wasting logic resources, the FPGA logic space must be defragmented regularly. This paper presents a non-intrusive active replication procedure that supports the proposed test methodology and the implementation of defragmentation strategies, assuring both the availability of resources and their perfect working condition, without disturbing system operation.

Urban land use change analysis and modelling: a case study of Setubal-Sesimbra, Portugal

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

Industry energy optimization: A case study in a biodiesel production site

This paper presents a case study of heat exchanger network (HEN) retrofit with the objective to reduce the utilities consumption in a biodiesel production process. Pinch analysis studies allow determining the minimum duty utilities as well the maximum of heat recovery. The existence of heat exchangers for heat recovery already running in the process causes a serious restriction for the implementation of grassroot HEN design based on pinch studies. Maintaining the existing HEN, a set of alternatives with additional heat exchangers was created and analysed using some industrial advice and selection criteria. The final proposed solution allows to increase the actual 18 % of recovery heat of the all heating needs of the process to 23 %, with an estimated annual saving in hot utility of 35 k(sic)/y.

A qualitative assessment of modularity in CaesarJ components based on implementations of design patterns

Tese de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

Wetland Habitat Studies using various Classification Techniques on Multi-Spectral Landsat Imagery: Case study: Tram chim National Park, Dong Thap Vietnam

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

Designing market-based instruments for biodiversity conservation: learning with the Australian experience and evaluating Portugal's potential

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil Gestão de Sistemas Ambientais

A self-healing real-time system based on run-time self-reconfiguration

The new generations of SRAM-based FPGA (field programmable gate array) devices are the preferred choice for the implementation of reconfigurable computing platforms intended to accelerate processing in real-time systems. However, FPGA's vulnerability to hard and soft errors is a major weakness to robust configurable system design. In this paper, a novel built-in self-healing (BISH) methodology, based on run-time self-reconfiguration, is proposed. A soft microprocessor core implemented in the FPGA is responsible for the management and execution of all the BISH procedures. Fault detection and diagnosis is followed by repairing actions, taking advantage of the dynamic reconfiguration features offered by new FPGA families. Meanwhile, modular redundancy assures that the system still works correctly