Experiences on Application Generators

The National Institute for Statistics is the organism responsible for acquiring economical data for governmental statistics purposes. Lisbon agreements establish a framework in which this acquisition process shall be available through Internet, so each survey should be considered as a little software project to be developed and maintained. Considering the great amount of different surveys and all changes produced per year on each make impossible this task. An application generator has been developed to automate this task, taking as a start point the Word or PDF template of a survey, and going through a graphical form designer as all human effort, all HTML, Java classes and Oracle database resources are generated and sent from backoffice to frontoffice servers, reducing the team to carry out the whole set of electronic surveys to two people from non I.T. staff.

Neglected Masterpieces of Cinema

This article will acquaint you with ten of the more important leftwing films I have reviewed over the past sixteen years as a member of New York Film Critics Online. You will not see listed familiar works such as “The Battle of Algiers” but instead those that deserve wider attention, the proverbial neglected masterpieces. They originate from different countries and are available through Internet streaming, either freely from Youtube or through Netflix or Amazon rental. In several instances you will be referred to film club websites that like the films under discussion deserve wider attention since they are the counterparts to the small, independent theaters where such films get premiered. The country of origin, date and director will be identified next to the title, followed by a summary of the film, and finally by its availability.

Crowdfunding for non-commercial initiatives

Organizations and individuals dealing with non-commercial initiatives are in permanent search for funding. Crowdfunding is an alternative way of collecting funds from general public through Internet-based platforms, which is currently gaining popularity all over the world. There are several research initiatives in that field that show the influence of different factors on the success of campaigns, both with commercial and non-commercial objectives. Non-profit nature of the project is named among key predictors of positive outcome. In this context, the purpose of this work is to check whether the tendencies detected by scholars are valid for non-commercial initiatives, especially those having socially aware objectives, posted on the Belarusian crowdfunding platform Ulej. The method used for validation of the research hypotheses is binary logistic regression and statistical test. The results showed that the dependent variable success is influenced by such independent variables as the funding goal, the sum collected, the number of sponsors and the average pledge. On the other hand, the effect of the duration period is not significant. Inferential analysis shows that there is no difference in the level of success between commercial and non-commercial projects and that social orientation does not increase the likelihood of meeting financial goals. The findings are opposite to those provided in literature. However that could be explained by the short period of functioning of platform and the small number of projects.

Creación de marca mediante la utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y marketing

El presente documento pretende mostrar la manera como se debe ejecutar la creación de marca mediante la utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y marketing. El objetivo del estudio se basa en encontrar los mecanismos adecuados para el desarrollo y creación de una marca enfocándose en el análisis de las principales prácticas y modelos desarrollados en el área del marketing, examinando el impacto que la marca pueda generar en la comunidad en la cual la organización está incluida, estableciendo además un conexión directa con el modo de vida de los consumidores. Durante el desarrollo del documento se demuestra que las estrategias de marketing aplicadas por cada compañía, sirven para construir una relación estrecha y fuerte con todos los agentes involucrados en la construcción de una marca, principalmente con los clientes, ya que la forma más efectiva de establecer relaciones a largo plazo, es enfocándose exclusivamente en las necesidades desarrolladas por los consumidores, y a partir de ellas ajustar los valores (misión, visión, cultura organizacional, objetivos) de la organización. Estas estrategias comunitarias son también influenciadas por varios factores internos y externos a la organización, los cuales deben ser tenidos en cuenta al momento de elegir la estrategia adecuada. Los mecanismos estratégicos que desarrollan las empresas pueden cambiar significativamente de un sector comercial a otro, la importancia de las necesidades que se deben suplir y el consumidor final se deben evaluar desde un aspecto comunitario, entendiendo como comunidad como el conjunto de grupos sociales y comerciales que tienen relación directa o indirecta con la empresa. Con la investigación llevada a cabo acerca de las estrategias que deben aplicar las compañías se concluye que las marcas reflejan la imagen que la empresa transmite a sus compradores estableciendo una relación emocional entre los consumidores y la marca desarrollada, además de estimular la oferta y demanda del negocio. Se espera que por medio de la obtención de información teórica y conceptual, se pueda aclarar la manera como se puede desarrollar la creación de una marca por medio de la correcta utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y de marketing.

6G enabled IoV scenarios with distributed intelligence mechanisms

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) paradigm has emerged in recent times, where with the support of technologies like the Internet of Things and V2X , Vehicular Users (VUs) can access different services through internet connectivity. With the support of 6G technology, the IoV paradigm will evolve further and converge into a fully connected and intelligent vehicular system. However, this brings new challenges over dynamic and resource-constrained vehicular systems, and advanced solutions are demanded. This dissertation analyzes the future 6G enabled IoV systems demands, corresponding challenges, and provides various solutions to address them. The vehicular services and application requests demands proper data processing solutions with the support of distributed computing environments such as Vehicular Edge Computing (VEC). While analyzing the performance of VEC systems it is important to take into account the limited resources, coverage, and vehicular mobility into account. Recently, Non terrestrial Networks (NTN) have gained huge popularity for boosting the coverage and capacity of terrestrial wireless networks. Integrating such NTN facilities into the terrestrial VEC system can address the above mentioned challenges. Additionally, such integrated Terrestrial and Non-terrestrial networks (T-NTN) can also be considered to provide advanced intelligent solutions with the support of the edge intelligence paradigm. In this dissertation, we proposed an edge computing-enabled joint T-NTN-based vehicular system architecture to serve VUs. Next, we analyze the terrestrial VEC systems performance for VUs data processing problems and propose solutions to improve the performance in terms of latency and energy costs. Next, we extend the scenario toward the joint T-NTN system and address the problem of distributed data processing through ML-based solutions. We also proposed advanced distributed learning frameworks with the support of a joint T-NTN framework with edge computing facilities. In the end, proper conclusive remarks and several future directions are provided for the proposed solutions.

Research input for computer simulation of automobile collisions. Volume III: staged collisions. Tests no. 6 through no. 12. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

A computer program (HEVSIM) for heavy duty vehicle fuel economy and performance simulation. Volume III: appendices A through F. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Research and Development, Washington, D.C.

Research input for computer simulation of automobile collisions. Volume II: staged collisions. Tests no. 1 through no. 5. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Improvement of mathematical models for simulation of vehicle handling. Volume 5: programmers' guide for the vehicle model. Part I: documentation through subroutine IOUT. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Improvement of mathematical models for simulation of vehicle handling. Volume 5: programmers' guide for the vehicle model. Part 2: documentation for subroutines PRTDIC through KNMTC. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Improvement of mathematical models for simulation of vehicle handling. Volume 5: programmers' guide for the vehicle model. Part 3: documentation for subroutines SLPCLC through OUTPUT and a double precision listing. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Simulation of mixing in unsteady flow through a periodically obstructed channel

Fluid mixing in steady and unsteady Bow through a channel containing periodic square obstructions has been studied using a finite-difference simulation to determine fluid velocities, followed by the use of passive marker particle advection to look at fluid transport out of the cavities formed between each of the obstructions. The geometry and Bow conditions were chosen from the work by Perkins (1989, M.S. Thesis, Lehigh University; 1992, Ph.D. Thesis, Lehigh University); who investigated heat transfer enhancement due to unsteady flow through such an obstructed channel. Particle advection shows that Bow regimes which are predicted to give good mixing based on snapshots of instantaneous streamline contour plots were not necessarily able to efficiently mix fluid which started in the cavity regions throughout the channel. The use of Poincare sections shows regular regions existing under these conditions which inhibit efficient fluid transport. These regular regions are found to disappear when the unsteady Bow velocity is increased. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Improving FEM crash simulation accuracy through local thickness estimation based on CAD data

In this paper, we present a method for estimating local thickness distribution in nite element models, applied to injection molded and cast engineering parts. This method features considerable improved performance compared to two previously proposed approaches, and has been validated against thickness measured by di erent human operators. We also demonstrate that the use of this method for assigning a distribution of local thickness in FEM crash simulations results in a much more accurate prediction of the real part performance, thus increasing the bene ts of computer simulations in engineering design by enabling zero-prototyping and thus reducing product development costs. The simulation results have been compared to experimental tests, evidencing the advantage of the proposed method. Thus, the proposed approach to consider local thickness distribution in FEM crash simulations has high potential on the product development process of complex and highly demanding injection molded and casted parts and is currently being used by Ford Motor Company.

Predicting the mechanical behavior of amorphous polymeric materials under strain through multi-scale simulation

Polymeric materials have become the reference material for high reliability and performance applications. However, their performance in service conditions is difficult to predict, due in large part to their inherent complex morphology, which leads to non-linear and anisotropic behavior, highly dependent on the thermomechanical environment under which it is processed. In this work, a multiscale approach is proposed to investigate the mechanical properties of polymeric-based material under strain. To achieve a better understanding of phenomena occurring at the smaller scales, the coupling of a finite element method (FEM) and molecular dynamics (MD) modeling, in an iterative procedure, was employed, enabling the prediction of the macroscopic constitutive response. As the mechanical response can be related to the local microstructure, which in turn depends on the nano-scale structure, this multiscale approach computes the stress-strain relationship at every analysis point of the macro-structure by detailed modeling of the underlying micro- and meso-scale deformation phenomena. The proposed multiscale approach can enable prediction of properties at the macroscale while taking into consideration phenomena that occur at the mesoscale, thus offering an increased potential accuracy compared to traditional methods.

Improving management skills through business simulation

A survey was conducted among students of the Accounting and Administration undergraduate degree at ISCAP – IPP (School of Accounting and Administration of Polytechnic Institute of Porto) in order to understand their perception value of their course Business Simulation (BS). This course is provided in a business environment where students can learn by doing through the management of a company as they were in the real life, but risk-free. The learning tasks are provided in an action-oriented format to maximize the learning process. Students learn by doing a set of tasks every session and have also to produce reports and presentations during the course. BS is part of the undergraduate degree of Accounting and Administration at ISCAP – IPP since the beginning of 2003. The questionnaire we used captured the students’ perception about general and specific skills and competencies considered important for managers and accountants in the real life, about the methodology used in the course, which is totally different from the traditional form, and also about the adequacy of the course included as part of the undergraduate degree. The results showed that students’ perception is highly positive and almost all of them think they improve the skills needed for a job during the course. These results are consistent with [1] Adler and Milne’s research in which the authors found that students agree with the use of action-oriented learning tasks in order to provide them the needed attitudes, skills, and knowledge. The improvement of group skills is the most important issue for students, which can be understandable as BS is the only course from the degree in Accounting and Administration they really have to work in groups.