Gráfico de controle para monitoramento da razão da demanda e mão de obra em retaguarda de serviços no setor bancário.

O monitoramento da razão Z de duas variáveis através de gráfico de controle tem sido um tema recentemente explorado na literatura. Para analisar mais o assunto, o estudo avalia a eficiência e viabilidade de aplicação dessa ferramenta como suporte na tomada de decisão para gerenciamento de capacidade de mão de obra de retaguarda (doravante mencionado como Backoffice) de serviço de empresa do setor bancário. Tradicionalmente, gráficos de controle tem sido utilizados para monitorar o processo produtivo de manufaturas, mas recentemente tem sido adotado para monitoramento de alguns serviços. Apesar de ainda seguir muitos conceitos pioneiros na manufatura, a atividade do setor de serviços apresenta suas particularidades como, por exemplo, a impossibilidade de gerar estoque. Assim, a necessidade de adequar seus recursos à demanda torna-se essencial, sendo fundamental a gestão de controles e sua urgência para que possa reagir rapidamente em caso de variação de demanda e adequar sua capacidade. Em um cenário de restrição de recursos, planejar é crucial para evitar desperdícios e garantir eficiência. O objetivo deste estudo é apresentar o gráfico de controle como ferramenta para monitorar a razão de duas variáveis aleatórias: a demanda e a mão de obra em Backoffice de serviço em um banco. Nesse trabalho, gráfico de controle de Shewhart tradicional e gráfico de controle de Shewhart com regras suplementares são analisados e os resultados obtidos confirmam a possibilidade de utilização da ferramenta de gráficos de controle para o gerenciamento e adequação de mão de obra para atender a demanda. O monitoramento da razão (demanda/ mão de obra) ajudará o gestor a alocar adequadamente o time (mão de obra) de acordo com a demanda e a capacidade produtiva. Como contribuição, o estudo avalia o comportamento da razão Z = X/Y em situação de alta variabilidade da variável X e baixa variabilidade da variável Y .

Contrast discrimination and pattern masking: contrast gain control with fixed additive noise

We studied the visual mechanisms that serve to encode spatial contrast at threshold and supra-threshold levels. In a 2AFC contrast-discrimination task, observers had to detect the presence of a vertical 1 cycle deg-1 test grating (of contrast dc) that was superimposed on a similar vertical 1 cycle deg-1 pedestal grating, whereas in pattern masking the test grating was accompanied by a very different masking grating (horizontal 1 cycle deg-1, or oblique 3 cycles deg-1). When expressed as threshold contrast (dc at 75% correct) versus mask contrast (c) our results confirm previous ones in showing a characteristic 'dipper function' for contrast discrimination but a smoothly increasing threshold for pattern masking. However, fresh insight is gained by analysing and modelling performance (p; percent correct) as a joint function of (c, dc) - the performance surface. In contrast discrimination, psychometric functions (p versus logdc) are markedly less steep when c is above threshold, but in pattern masking this reduction of slope did not occur. We explored a standard gain-control model with six free parameters. Three parameters control the contrast response of the detection mechanism and one parameter weights the mask contrast in the cross-channel suppression effect. We assume that signal-detection performance (d') is limited by additive noise of constant variance. Noise level and lapse rate are also fitted parameters of the model. We show that this model accounts very accurately for the whole performance surface in both types of masking, and thus explains the threshold functions and the pattern of variation in psychometric slopes. The cross-channel weight is about 0.20. The model shows that the mechanism response to contrast increment (dc) is linearised by the presence of pedestal contrasts but remains nonlinear in pattern masking.

Mathematical modelling and optimal multivariable control of chemical processes

This work reports the developnent of a mathenatical model and distributed, multi variable computer-control for a pilot plant double-effect climbing-film evaporator. A distributed-parameter model of the plant has been developed and the time-domain model transformed into the Laplace domain. The model has been further transformed into an integral domain conforming to an algebraic ring of polynomials, to eliminate the transcendental terms which arise in the Laplace domain due to the distributed nature of the plant model. This has made possible the application of linear control theories to a set of linear-partial differential equations. The models obtained have well tracked the experimental results of the plant. A distributed-computer network has been interfaced with the plant to implement digital controllers in a hierarchical structure. A modern rnultivariable Wiener-Hopf controller has been applled to the plant model. The application has revealed a limitation condition that the plant matrix should be positive-definite along the infinite frequency axis. A new multi variable control theory has emerged fram this study, which avoids the above limitation. The controller has the structure of the modern Wiener-Hopf controller, but with a unique feature enabling a designer to specify the closed-loop poles in advance and to shape the sensitivity matrix as required. In this way, the method treats directly the interaction problems found in the chemical processes with good tracking and regulation performances. Though the ability of the analytical design methods to determine once and for all whether a given set of specifications can be met is one of its chief advantages over the conventional trial-and-error design procedures. However, one disadvantage that offsets to some degree the enormous advantages is the relatively complicated algebra that must be employed in working out all but the simplest problem. Mathematical algorithms and computer software have been developed to treat some of the mathematical operations defined over the integral domain, such as matrix fraction description, spectral factorization, the Bezout identity, and the general manipulation of polynomial matrices. Hence, the design problems of Wiener-Hopf type of controllers and other similar algebraic design methods can be easily solved.

Variable Recruitment in Bundles of Miniature Pneumatic Artificial Muscles and Space Qualified Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

The natural compliance and force generation properties of pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) allow them to operate like human muscles in anthropomorphic robotic manipulators. Traditionally, manipulators use a single PAM or multiple PAMs actuated in unison in place of a human muscle. However, these manipulators experience efficiency losses when operated outside their target performance ranges. The unidirectional actuation behavior of a miniature PAM bundle and bidirectional actuation behavior of an antagonistic pair of miniature PAM bundles are characterized and modeled. The results are used to motivate the application of a variable recruitment control strategy to a parallel bundle of miniature PAMs as an attempt to mimic the selective recruitment of motor units in a human muscle to improve the operating efficiency of the actuator. Additionally, the fabrication and quasi-static testing results for PAMs assembled from candidate space qualified bladder and braided sleeve materials for use in space robotics are assessed.

Analisis bromatológico inter-laboratorio de harina de centeno a ser utilizado como patrón secundario de análisis

El objetivo de esta investigación fue realizar un estudio inter-laboratorio bromatológico a partir de un patrón secundario de harina de centeno. Los laboratorios participantes de este estudio comparativo fueron el Laboratorio de Análisis Bromatológico para atención al público de la Universidad de Cuenca y el Laboratorio de Alimentos y Nutrición (VLIR-IUC) del Departamento de Biociencias. Los parámetros del análisis fueron: humedad, materia seca, cenizas, proteína bruta total, grasa total y carbohidratos totales. También el contenido de sal (cloruros) se analizó en uno de los laboratorios. Para los análisis de los diferentes parámetros se utilizaron las metodologías establecidas en cada laboratorio.Con los datos generados se realizaron gráficas de controlLevey-Jennings para cada parámetro y laboratoriopara el posterior control de análisis utilizando el patrón secundario dentro de los dos laboratorios participantes. Los resultados fueron evaluados estadísticamente mediante pruebas T de Student de una cola utilizando un nivel de significancia del 5%. Además se determinó la precisión intra- e inter-día siguiendo el método ANOVA y se expresó como porcentaje de coeficiente de variación (% CV). Todos los análisis fueron realizados en los programas Microsoft Excel 2013 y STATA 10.0. Para ambos laboratorios, los coeficientes de variación inter- e intra-día no sobrepasaron el 15%, que es lo recomendado para análisis proximal. Por otro lado, se encontraron diferencias significativas en los análisis de grasas, humedad-materia seca y carbohidratos, que pueden atribuirse a las diferencias metodológicas, temperatura y equipos de análisis, y en menor grado a los analistas y al azar.

Critical applications of SW 846 US EPA methods to evaluation of marine samples quality

Technical evaluation of analytical data is of extreme relevance considering it can be used for comparisons with environmental quality standards and decision-making as related to the management of disposal of dredged sediments and the evaluation of salt and brackish water quality in accordance with CONAMA 357/05 Resolution. It is, therefore, essential that the project manager discusses the environmental agency's technical requirements with the laboratory contracted for the follow-up of the analysis underway and even with a view to possible re-analysis when anomalous data are identified. The main technical requirements are: (1) method quantitation limits (QLs) should fall below environmental standards; (2) analyses should be carried out in laboratories whose analytical scope is accredited by the National Institute of Metrology (INMETRO) or qualified or accepted by a licensing agency; (3) chain of custody should be provided in order to ensure sample traceability; (4) control charts should be provided to prove method performance; (5) certified reference material analysis or, if that is not available, matrix spike analysis, should be undertaken and (6) chromatograms should be included in the analytical report. Within this context and with a view to helping environmental managers in analytical report evaluation, this work has as objectives the discussion of the limitations of the application of SW 846 US EPA methods to marine samples, the consequences of having data based on method detection limits (MDL) and not sample quantitation limits (SQL), and present possible modifications of the principal method applied by laboratories in order to comply with environmental quality standards.

IGRT com CBCT: o impacto na precisão em radioterapia

Mestrado em Radiações Aplicadas às Tecnologias da Saúde.

Implementação, validação e análise técnico-económico de alguns parâmetros analíticos no controlo de águas

Mestrado em Engenharia Química

Caracterização do “warpage” e sua variabilidade no processo produtivo de encapsulamento de circuitos integrados

Nos últimos anos a indústria de semicondutores, nomeadamente a produção de memórias, tem sofrido uma grande evolução. A necessidade de baixar custos de produção, assim como de produzir sistemas mais complexos e com maior capacidade, levou à criação da tecnologia WLP (Wafer Level Packaging). Esta tecnologia permite a produção de sistemas mais pequenos, simplificar o fluxo do processo e providenciar uma redução significativa do custo final do produto. A WLP é uma tecnologia de encapsulamento de circuitos integrados quando ainda fazem parte de wafers (bolachas de silício), em contraste com o método tradicional em que os sistemas são individualizados previamente antes de serem encapsulados. Com o desenvolvimento desta tecnologia, surgiu a necessidade de melhor compreender o comportamento mecânico do mold compound (MC - polímero encapsulante) mais especificamente do warpage (empeno) de wafers moldadas. O warpage é uma característica deste produto e deve-se à diferença do coeficiente de expansão térmica entre o silício e o mold compound. Este problema é observável no produto através do arqueamento das wafers moldadas. O warpage de wafers moldadas tem grande impacto na manufatura. Dependendo da quantidade e orientação do warpage, o transporte, manipulação, bem como, a processamento das wafers podem tornar-se complicados ou mesmo impossíveis, o que se traduz numa redução de volume de produção e diminuição da qualidade do produto. Esta dissertação foi desenvolvida na Nanium S.A., empresa portuguesa líder mundial na tecnologia de WLP em wafers de 300mm e aborda a utilização da metodologia Taguchi, no estudo da variabilidade do processo de debond para o produto X. A escolha do processo e produto baseou-se numa análise estatística da variação e do impacto do warpage ao longo doprocesso produtivo. A metodologia Taguchi é uma metodologia de controlo de qualidade e permite uma aproximação sistemática num dado processo, combinando gráficos de controlo, controlo do processo/produto, e desenho do processo para alcançar um processo robusto. Os resultados deste método e a sua correta implementação permitem obter poupanças significativas nos processos com um impacto financeiro significativo. A realização deste projeto permitiu estudar e quantificar o warpage ao longo da linha de produção e minorar o impacto desta característica no processo de debond. Este projecto permitiu ainda a discussão e o alinhamento entre as diferentes áreas de produção no que toca ao controlo e a melhoria de processos. Conseguiu–se demonstrar que o método Taguchi é um método eficiente no que toca ao estudo da variabilidade de um processo e otimização de parâmetros. A sua aplicação ao processo de debond permitiu melhorar ou a fiabilidade do processo em termos de garantia da qualidade do produto, como ao nível do aumento de produção.

Utilization of Quality Tools: does sector and size matter?

This research focuses on the influence of company sector and size on the level of utilization of Basic and Advanced Quality Tools. The paper starts with a literature review and then presents the methodology used for the survey. Based on the responses from 202 managers of Portuguese ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certified organizations, statistical tests were performed. Results show, with 95% confidence level, that industry and services have a similar proportion of use of Basic and Advanced Quality Tools. Concerning size, bigger companies show a higher trend to use Advanced Quality Tools than smaller ones. For Basic Quality Tools, there was no statistical significant difference at a 95% confidence level for different company sizes. The three basic Quality tools with higher utilization were Check sheets, Flow charts and Histograms (for Services) or Control Charts/ (for Industry), however 22% of the surveyed organizations reported not using Basic Quality Tools, which highlights a major improvement opportunity for these companies. Additional studies addressing motivations, benefits and barriers for Quality Tools application should be undertaken for further validation and understanding of these results.

Implementation of a lean six sigma project in a production line

Companies from the motorcycles components branch are dealing with a dynamic environment, resulting from the introduction of new products and the increase of market demand. This dynamic environment requires frequent changes in production lines and requires flexibility in the processes, which can cause reductions in the level of quality and productivity. This paper presents a Lean Six Sigma improvement project performed in a production line of the company's machining sector, in order to eliminate losses that cause low productivity, affecting the fulfillment of the production plan and customer satisfaction. The use of Lean methodology following the DMAIC stages allowed analyzing the factors that influence the line productivity loss. The major problems and causes that contribute to a reduction on productivity and that were identified in this study are the lack of standardization in the setup activities and the excessive stoppages for adjustment of the processes that caused an increase of defects. Control charts, Pareto analysis and cause-and-effect diagrams were used to analyze the problem. On the improvement stage, the changes were based on the reconfiguration of the line layout as well as the modernization of the process. Overall, the project justified an investment in new equipment, the defective product units were reduced by 84% and an increase of 29% of line capacity was noticed.

Population genetic structure and demography analysis in palinurus elephas populations from atlantic and mediterranean waters

Report for the scientific sojourn at the University of Reading, United Kingdom, from January until May 2008. The main objectives have been firstly to infer population structure and parameters in demographic models using a total of 13 microsatellite loci for genotyping approximately 30 individuals per population in 10 Palinurus elephas populations both from Mediterranean and Atlantic waters. Secondly, developing statistical methods to identify discrepant loci, possibly under selection and implement those methods using the R software environment. It is important to consider that the calculation of the probability distribution of the demographic and mutational parameters for a full genetic data set is numerically difficult for complex demographic history (Stephens 2003). The Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC), based on summary statistics to infer posterior distributions of variable parameters without explicit likelihood calculations, can surmount this difficulty. This would allow to gather information on different demographic prior values (i.e. effective population sizes, migration rate, microsatellite mutation rate, mutational processes) and assay the sensitivity of inferences to demographic priors by assuming different priors.

La segregació i l'escat de guerres civils

Tradicionalment, s’ha considerat que les característiques ètniques d’un país són un factor rellevant per a l’esclat d’una guerra civil. Han estat objecte d’una anàlisi extensa mitjançant índexs de fraccionament ètnic (quants grups diferents hi ha) i de polarització ètnica (el nombre i la mida relativa dels grups), però sense resultats concloents. Un aspecte que interiorment s’havia passat per alt és la distribució física dels grups dins d’un país. Aquest article selecciona un índex de segregació i s’analitza la relació amb l’esclat de guerres civils a través de tres bases de dades consolidades, dues de les quals amb un llindar alt de víctimes mortals i una altra amb un llindar baix. Aquesta recerca revela que l’índex de segregació és significatiu per predir l’inici d’una guerra civil. Tot i que la segregació forçosament ha de dependre del fraccionament i que probablement és condicionada per la polarització, l’anàlisi mostra que, un cop s’introdueix la segregació com a variable de control, el fraccionament i la polarització deixen de ser significatius a l’hora de calcular les probabilitats de conflicte civil a través de les bases de dades de llindar alt. L’article sosté que els efectes de la segregació es desenvolupen a través de la separació física respecte d’altres grups ètnics, la proximitat física dins d’un mateix grup i l’homogeneïtat en el si d’un territori, i que cada un d’aquests factors influeix tant sobre la motivació per rebel·lar-se com sobre la viabilitat de la rebel·lió. La significativitat de la segregació mostra que l’impacte de les característiques ètniques sobre el conflicte és complex i que el concepte de segregació aporta una dimensió útil a l’especificació de l’etnicitat.

C. difficile surveillance quarterly report: October-December 2010

This quarterly report provides epidemiological data on C. difficile in Northern Ireland, and includes key points, a comprehensiveoverview of all C. diff infections, rates, trends, age-specific informationand statistical process control charts. The report also provides information on surveillance methods and data for each hospital and Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.

S. aureus bacteraemia surveillance quarterly report: October-December 2010

This quarterly report provides epidemiological data onS. aureusin Northern Ireland, including overall infectionfigures as well as those specific to MRSA and MSSA. The report highlights key points, rates, trends and statistical process control charts. The report also provides information on surveillance methods and data for each hospital and Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.