Prognostics health management: perspectives in engineering systems reliability prognostics

The Prognostic Health Management (PHM) has been asserting itself as the most promising methodology to enhance the effective reliability and availability of a product or system during its life-cycle conditions by detecting current and approaching failures, thus, providing mitigation of the system risks with reduced logistics and support costs. However, PHM is at an early stage of development, it also expresses some concerns about possible shortcomings of its methods, tools, metrics and standardization. These factors have been severely restricting the applicability of PHM and its adoption by the industry. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review about the PHM main general weaknesses. Exploring the research opportunities present in some recent publications, are discussed and outlined the general guide-lines for finding the answer to these issues.

Influence of constituent yarn systems on the moisture management performance of terry fabrics

Objetivo do presente trabalho foi estudar a influência dos diferentes sistemas de fios (trama, teia de base e teia da argola) no desempenho dos tecidos de felpos, no que concerne às propriedades de absorção, capilaridade e libertação de humidade. Para este estudo usaram-se quatro tipos de combinações destes sistemas de fios, para a mesma estrutura de tecidos de felpo, na teia de base utilizou-se somente fios de Tencel®, na teia de argola e da trama varou-se a composição dos fios entre fios de algodão e de Tencel®. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que quando a utilização fios de Tencel® em qualquer dos sistemas (trama ou teia da argola) favorece a capacidade de difusão de líquidos na estrutura, a utilização de fios de algodão na teia de argola favorece a capacidade de absorção.

The importance of risk assessment in the context of investment project management: a case study

Risk management is an important component of project management. Nevertheless, such process begins with risk assessment and evaluation. In this research project, a detailed analysis of the methodologies used to treat risks in investment projects adopted by the Banco da Amazonia S.A. was made. Investment projects submitted to the FNO (Constitutional Fund for Financing the North) during 2011 and 2012 were considered for that purpose. It was found that the evaluators of this credit institution use multiple indicators for risk assessment which assume a central role in terms of decision-making and contribute for the approval or the rejection of the submitted projects; namely, the proven ability to pay, the financial records of project promotors, several financial restrictions, level of equity, level of financial indebtedness, evidence of the existence of a consumer market, the proven experience of the partners/owners in the business, environmental aspects, etc. Furthermore, the bank has technological systems to support the risk assessment process, an internal communication system and a unique system for the management of operational risk.

Project management under uncertainty: a study on solution methods

Project Management involves onetime endeavors that demand for getting it right the first time. On the other hand, project scheduling, being one of the most modeled project management process stages, still faces a wide gap from theory to practice. Demanding computational models and their consequent call for simplification, divert the implementation of such models in project management tools from the actual day to day project management process. Special focus is being made to the robustness of the generated project schedules facing the omnipresence of uncertainty. An "easy" way out is to add, more or less cleverly calculated, time buffers that always result in project duration increase and correspondingly, in cost. A better approach to deal with uncertainty seems to be to explore slack that might be present in a given project schedule, a fortiori when a non-optimal schedule is used. The combination of such approach to recent advances in modeling resource allocation and scheduling techniques to cope with the increasing flexibility in resources, as can be expressed in "Flexible Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problem" (FRCPSP) formulations, should be a promising line of research to generate more adequate project management tools. In reality, this approach has been frequently used, by project managers in an ad-hoc way.

Assessment and management of the geomorphological heritage of Monte Pindo (NW Spain): a landscape as a symbol of identity

This study focuses on the granite mountain known as Monte Pindo (627 m above sea level) in the Autonomous Community of Galicia (NW Spain). This territory is included in the area classified as “Costa da Morte” in the “Politica de Ordenación Litoral” (POL) (Coastal Planning Policy) for the region of Galicia. This coastal unit, located between “Rías Baixas” and “Cape Fisterra” has great potential for demonstrating geological processes and its geomorphological heritage is characterized by a high degree of geodiversity of granite landforms. The main objective of our work is to assess the geomorphological heritage of the site, thus revealing its wide geodiversity. We shall analyze and highlight: its scientific value, developing an inventory of granite landforms; its educational valuel and its geotouristic potential. It must be ensured that the Administration understands that natural diversity is composed of both geodiversity and biodiversity. Only then will the sustainable management of Monte Pindo become possible by integrating natural and cultural heritage values. The goal is to ensure that Monte Pindo and its immediate surroundings become a geopark with the aim of promoting local development projects based on the conservation and valorization of its geological heritage.

School governance and academic excellence: the representations of distinguished students in an annual award of excellence

Within a research project on «academic excellence in the state school», this paper is a contribution to the sociological reflection on the cultural and organisational characteristics of the school and its relationship with the academic success of students. The data we present stem from a case study underway at a secondary school in the north of Portugal, referring to the universe of students that since 2003 have distinguished themselves for achieving grades equal to or greater than 18 (on a scale of 0 to 20) and have thus been included in the school’s Framework of Excellence. From a contextual approach to this educational practice, we focused on the cultural characteristics of the school/subject as analytical support for the study of school and non-school dimensions in their mutual connections. To this end, we used the information from document analysis and data collected from a questionnaire survey administered to more than two-thirds of the students included in the above-mentioned Framework of Excellence. Subsequently, we will use the data from this survey to understand the extent to which academic excellence is perceived as an indivisible social construction of the school’s political and organisational matrix, particularly in terms of the educational and teaching guidelines adopted by the management body. We will conclude by questioning the meaning of the school’s management policies regarding the emphasis on educational outcomes, with particular focus on the representations of excellent students in the processes of school leadership, teaching organisation, school merit and justice.

Corporate Performance Management através da integração de Business Intelligence e Business Process Management

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de Informação

MicroRNA-375 plays a dual role in prostate carcinogenesis

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa), a highly incident and heterogeneous malignancy, mostly affects men from developed countries. Increased knowledge of the biological mechanisms underlying PCa onset and progression are critical for improved clinical management. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) deregulation is common in human cancers, and understanding how it impacts in PCa is of major importance. MiRNAs are mostly downregulated in cancer, although some are overexpressed, playing a critical role in tumor initiation and progression. We aimed to identify miRNAs overexpressed in PCa and subsequently determine its impact in tumorigenesis. Results: MicroRNA expression profiling in primary PCa and morphological normal prostate (MNPT) tissues identified 17 miRNAs significantly overexpressed in PCa. Expression of three miRNAs, not previously associated with PCa, was subsequently assessed in large independent sets of primary tumors, in which miR-182 and miR-375 were validated, but not miR-32. Significantly higher expression levels of miR-375 were depicted in patients with higher Gleason score and more advanced pathological stage, aswellaswithregionallymph nodesmetastases. Forced expression of miR-375 in PC-3 cells, which display the lowest miR-375 levels among PCa cell lines, increased apoptosis and reduced invasion ability and cell viability. Intriguingly, in 22Rv1 cells, which displayed the highest miR-375 expression, knockdown experiments also attenuated the malignant phenotype. Gene ontology analysis implicated miR-375 in several key pathways deregulated in PCa, including cell cycle and cell differentiation. Moreover, CCND2 was identified as putative miR-375 target in PCa, confirmed by luciferase assay. Conclusions: A dual role for miR-375 in prostate cancer progression is suggested, highlighting the importance of cellular context on microRNA targeting.

Programa de tratamento assertivo na comunidade (PACT) e gerenciamento de casos (case management): revisão de 20 anos da literatura

OBJETIVO: Realizar uma revisão de estudos sobre programa de tratamento assertivo na comunidade (PACT) e case management para verificar se os resultados demonstram desfechos mais favoráveis quando tais modelos são implementados na rede comunitária de assistência para portadores de doença mental grave e persistente. MÉTODOS: A coleta de artigos - publicados entre 1985 e 2005 - foi realizada em duas etapas: a primeira, na base de dados PubMed, com expressões-chave mental health, community care, services evaluation e seleção de artigos cuja temática era PACT e case management, e a segunda, no banco de dados da revista Psychiatric Services, com palavras-chave assertive community treatment, PACT e case management. Foram desconsiderados estudos que analisavam serviços exclusivos para crianças, idosos e pacientes com diagnóstico único de abuso de álcool/drogas; abordavam unicamente os custos da intervenção e se referiam exclusivamente a serviços hospitalares. RESULTADOS: A partir da leitura dos 73 estudos selecionados, os autores descreveram oito categorias nas quais os artigos foram agrupados, visto que um artigo poderia pertencer a mais de uma categoria. CONCLUSÕES: O PACT e o case management são estratégias importantes e reconhecidamente mais eficazes, quando comparados a outros modelos de cuidado, em trazer evoluções favoráveis para indivíduos com doença mental grave e persistente.

Optimal behavior of responsive residential demand considering hybrid phase change materials

Due to communication and technology developments, residential consumers are enabled to participate in Demand Response Programs (DRPs), control their consumption and decrease their cost by using Household Energy Management (HEM) systems. On the other hand, capability of energy storage systems to improve the energy efficiency causes that employing Phase Change Materials (PCM) as thermal storage systems to be widely addressed in the building applications. In this paper, an operational model of HEM system considering the incorporation of more than one type of PCM in plastering mortars (hybrid PCM) is proposed not only to minimize the customerâ s cost in different DRPs but also to guaranty the habitantsâ  satisfaction. Moreover, the proposed model ensures the technical and economic limits of batteries and electrical appliances. Different case studies indicate that implementation of hybrid PCM in the buildings can meaningfully affect the operational pattern of HEM systems in different DRPs. The results reveal that the customerâ s electricity cost can be reduced up to 48% by utilizing the proposed model.

Implementação de um sistema de customer relationship management na broaden information solutions

Dissertação de mestrado em Sistemas de Informação

Concise server-wide causality management for eventually consistent data stores

Large scale distributed data stores rely on optimistic replication to scale and remain highly available in the face of net work partitions. Managing data without coordination results in eventually consistent data stores that allow for concurrent data updates. These systems often use anti-entropy mechanisms (like Merkle Trees) to detect and repair divergent data versions across nodes. However, in practice hash-based data structures are too expensive for large amounts of data and create too many false conflicts. Another aspect of eventual consistency is detecting write conflicts. Logical clocks are often used to track data causality, necessary to detect causally concurrent writes on the same key. However, there is a nonnegligible metadata overhead per key, which also keeps growing with time, proportional with the node churn rate. Another challenge is deleting keys while respecting causality: while the values can be deleted, perkey metadata cannot be permanently removed without coordination. Weintroduceanewcausalitymanagementframeworkforeventuallyconsistentdatastores,thatleveragesnodelogicalclocks(BitmappedVersion Vectors) and a new key logical clock (Dotted Causal Container) to provides advantages on multiple fronts: 1) a new efficient and lightweight anti-entropy mechanism; 2) greatly reduced per-key causality metadata size; 3) accurate key deletes without permanent metadata.

Relatório detalhado sobre a atividade profissional desenvolvida no perído 2007-2015 no Gabinete de Fundos Comunitários do Município da Póvoa de Lanhoso

Dissertação de mestrado em Geografia (área de especialização em Planeamento e Gestão do Território)

Safety management of cranes on construction sites in Portugal: Critical factors of safety

The evolution of the construction caused a need to use more effective equipments, capable of meeting the increasingly demanding deadlines for the completion of works. In this context, the safety and efficiency of equipment have become key aspects in order to optimize the execution time of the works, as well as reducing labor costs and loss of materials. With the evolution of construction and construction processes, cranes have come to represent a signal of the construction of buildings, revealing to be, in most of the cases, the main equipment of construction sites. Currently, some engineers revels some apprehension regarding the use and handling of cranes which is natural and acceptable, since an equipment failure can lead to serious or fatal accidents. The factors affecting safety management of the cranes in construction sites were investigated, identified, classified and evaluated according to their degree of importance, through interviews with representatives of the general contractors of a set of selected construction sites.