EZ-BUD : orçamentação na nuvem

Não é novidade que o paradigma vigente baseia-se na Internet, em que cada vez mais aplicações mudam o seu modelo de negócio relativamente a licenciamento e manutenção, para passar a oferecer ao utilizador final uma aplicação mais acessível no que concerne a licenciamento e custos de manutenção, já que as aplicações se encontram distribuídas eliminando os custos de capitais e operacionais inerentes a uma arquitetura centralizada. Com a disseminação das Interfaces de Programação de Aplicações (Application Programming Interfaces – API) baseadas na Internet, os programadores passaram a poder desenvolver aplicações que utilizam funcionalidades disponibilizadas por terceiros, sem terem que as programar de raiz. Neste conceito, a API das aplicações Google® permitem a distribuição de aplicações a um mercado muito vasto e a integração com ferramentas de produtividade, sendo uma oportunidade para a difusão de ideias e conceitos. Este trabalho descreve o processo de conceção e implementação de uma plataforma, usando as tecnologias HTML5, Javascript, PHP e MySQL com integração com ®Google Apps, com o objetivo de permitir ao utilizador a preparação de orçamentos, desde o cálculo de preços de custo compostos, preparação dos preços de venda, elaboração do caderno de encargos e respetivo cronograma.

Nutritional implications on the fertility of high yielding dairy cows

This paper reviews energy utilisation in high yielding Holsteins and draws attention to the competing forces within the cow for nutrients to support different physiological processes. These comprise; meeting obligatory maintenance costs, providing essential nutrients for milk synthesis, maintenance of satisfactory milk composition, regulation of body tissue metabolism and body condition score and the establishment of reproductive cyclity after calving, followed by a successful pregnancy. Interrelationships between nutritional state and the partition of nutrients to these competing forces is discussed, with emphasis on the fertility of high yielding multiparous cows, aiming to determine the origins of some of the abnormal cycles and compromised fertility noted in such cows. A further analysis with primaparous heifers is provided and finally a number of strategies are identified that could be undertaken, to improve nutritional state and the overall fertility of high yielding cows. It is concluded that development of improved nutritional strategies represents a more reliable means of improving the overall productivity, along with the fertility of high yielding cows, than an increased focus on genetic selection, where predictability of response has often been disappointing.

Unravelling the rationale of 'overgrazing' and stocking rates in the beef production systems of Central Brazil using a bi-criteria compromise programming model

In Central Brazil, the long-term sustainability of beef cattle systems is under threat over vast tracts of farming areas, as more than half of the 50 million hectares of sown pastures are suffering from degradation. Overgrazing practised to maintain high stocking rates is regarded as one of the main causes. High stocking rates are deliberate and crucial decisions taken by the farmers, which appear paradoxical, even irrational given the state of knowledge regarding the consequences of overgrazing. The phenomenon however appears inextricably linked with the objectives that farmers hold. In this research those objectives were elicited first and from their ranking two, ‘asset value of cattle (representing cattle ownership)' and ‘present value of economic returns', were chosen to develop an original bi-criteria Compromise Programming model to test various hypotheses postulated to explain the overgrazing behaviour. As part of the model a pasture productivity index is derived to estimate the pasture recovery cost. Different scenarios based on farmers' attitudes towards overgrazing, pasture costs and capital availability were analysed. The results of the model runs show that benefits from holding more cattle can outweigh the increased pasture recovery and maintenance costs. This result undermines the hypothesis that farmers practise overgrazing because they are unaware or uncaring about overgrazing costs. An appropriate approach to the problem of pasture degradation requires information on the economics, and its interplay with farmers' objectives, for a wide range of pasture recovery and maintenance methods. Seen within the context of farmers' objectives, some level of overgrazing appears rational. Advocacy of the simple ‘no overgrazing' rule is an insufficient strategy to maintain the long-term sustainability of the beef production systems in Central Brazil.

Unravelling the rationale of 'overgrazing' and stocking rates in the beef production systems of Central Brazil using a bi-criteria compromise programming model

In Central Brazil, the long-term, sustainability of beef cattle systems is under threat over vast tracts of farming areas, as more than half of the 50 million hectares of sown pastures are suffering from. degradation. Overgrazing practised to maintain high stocking rates is regarded as one of the main causes. High stocking rates are deliberate and crucial decisions taken by the farmers, which appear paradoxical, even irrational given the state of knowledge regarding the consequences of overgrazing. The phenomenon however appears inextricably linked with the objectives that farmers hold. In this research those objectives were elicited first and from their ranking two, 'asset value of cattle (representing cattle ownership and 'present value of economic returns', were chosen to develop an original bi-criteria Compromise Programming model to test various hypotheses postulated to explain the overgrazing behaviour. As part of the model a pasture productivity index is derived to estimate the pasture recovery cost. Different scenarios based on farmers' attitudes towards overgrazing, pasture costs and capital availability were analysed. The results of the model runs show that benefits from holding more cattle can outweigh the increased pasture recovery and maintenance costs. This result undermines the hypothesis that farmers practise overgrazing because they are unaware or uncaring caring about overgrazing costs. An appropriate approach to the problem of pasture degradation requires information on the economics,and its interplay with farmers' objectives, for a wide range of pasture recovery and maintenance methods. Seen within the context of farmers' objectives, some level of overgrazing appears rational. Advocacy of the simple 'no overgrazing' rule is an insufficient strategy to maintain the long-term sustainability of the beef production systems in Central Brazil. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical reliability issues for building services systems

This paper addresses two critical issues associated with reliability and maintenance of building services systems. The first is the ratio of operating and/or maintenance costs to initial costs for building services systems. It is an important parameter for life cycle costing and maintenance policy development. The second is the proportion of items among building services systems that need preventive maintenance. In this paper, we estimate the ratios based on a cost dataset. It suggests that correctly estimating the ratio be important but using a constant ratio in life cycle costing may result in wrong decisions. It also estimates the proportion of preventive maintenance for building services systems on the basis of the distribution of failure patterns.

Evaluation of field wetlands for mitigation of diffuse pollution from agriculture: sediment retention, cost and effectiveness

Diffuse pollution, and the contribution from agriculture in particular, has become increasingly important as pollution from point sources has been addressed by wastewater treatment. Land management approaches, such as construction of field wetlands, provide one group of mitigation options available to farmers. Although field wetlands are widely used for diffuse pollution control in temperate environments worldwide, there is a shortage of evidence for the effectiveness and viability of these mitigation options in the UK. The Mitigation Options for Phosphorus and Sediment Project aims to make recommendations regarding the design and effectiveness of field wetlands for diffuse pollution control in UK landscapes. Ten wetlands have been built on four farms in Cumbria and Leicestershire. This paper focuses on sediment retention within the wetlands, estimated from annual sediment surveys in the first two years, and discusses establishment costs. It is clear that the wetlands are effective in trapping a substantial amount of sediment. Estimates of annual sediment retention suggest higher trapping rates at sandy sites (0.5–6 t ha�1 yr�1), compared to silty sites (0.02–0.4 t ha�1 yr�1) and clay sites (0.01–0.07 t ha�1 yr�1). Establishment costs for the wetlands ranged from £280 to £3100 and depended more on site specific factors, such as fencing and gateways on livestock farms, rather than on wetland size or design. Wetlands with lower trapping rates would also have lower maintenance costs, as dredging would be required less frequently. The results indicate that field wetlands show promise for inclusion in agri-environment schemes, particularly if capital payments can be provided for establishment, to encourage uptake of these multi-functional features.

Financial implications for companies running standby generators in support of a smart grid

Integrating renewable energy into built environments requires additional attention to the balancing of supply and demand due to their intermittent nature. Demand Side Response (DSR) has the potential to make money for organisations as well as support the System Operator as the generation mix changes. There is an opportunity to increase the use of existing technologies in order to manage demand. Company-owned standby generators are a rarely used resource; their maintenance schedule often accounts for a majority of their running hours. DSR encompasses a range of technologies and organisations; Sustainability First (2012) suggest that the System Operator (SO), energy supply companies, Distribution Network Operators (DNOs), Aggregators and Customers all stand to benefit from DSR. It is therefore important to consider impact of DSR measures to each of these stakeholders. This paper assesses the financial implications of organisations using existing standby generation equipment for DSR in order to avoid peak electricity charges. It concludes that under the current GB electricity pricing structure, there are several regions where running diesel generators at peak times is financially beneficial to organisations. Issues such as fuel costs, Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) charges, maintenance costs and electricity prices are discussed.

Massive Open Online Courses and sustainability

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become very popular among learners millions of users from around the world registered with leading platforms. There are hundreds of universities (and other organizations) offering MOOCs. However, sustainability of MOOCs is a pressing concern as MOOCs incur up front creation costs, maintenance costs to keep content relevant and on-going support costs to provide facilitation while a course is being run. At present, charging a fee for certification (for example Coursera Signature Track and FutureLearn Statement of Completion) seems a popular business model. In this paper, the authors discuss other possible business models and their pros and cons. Some business models discussed here are: Freemium model – providing content freely but charging for premium services such as course support, tutoring and proctored exams. Sponsorships – courses can be created in collaboration with industry where industry sponsorships are used to cover the costs of course production and offering. For example Teaching Computing course was offered by the University of East Anglia on the FutureLearn platform with the sponsorship from British Telecom while the UK Government sponsored the course Introduction to Cyber Security offered by the Open University on FutureLearn. Initiatives and Grants – The government, EU commission or corporations could commission the creation of courses through grants and initiatives according to the skills gap identified for the economy. For example, the UK Government’s National Cyber Security Programme has supported a course on Cyber Security. Similar initiatives could also provide funding to support relevant course development and offering. Donations – Free software, Wikipedia and early OER initiatives such as the MIT OpenCourseware accept donations from the public and this could well be used as a business model where learners could contribute (if they wish) to the maintenance and facilitation of a course. Merchandise – selling merchandise could also bring revenue to MOOCs. As many participants do not seek formal recognition (European Commission, 2014) for their completion of a MOOC, merchandise that presents their achievement in a playful way could well be attractive for them. Sale of supplementary material –supplementary course material in the form of an online or physical book or similar could be sold with the revenue being reinvested in the course delivery. Selective advertising – courses could have advertisements relevant to learners Data sharing – though a controversial topic, sharing learner data with relevant employers or similar could be another revenue model for MOOCs. Follow on events – the courses could lead to follow on summer schools, courses or other real-life or online events that are paid-for in which case a percentage of the revenue could be passed on to the MOOC for its upkeep. Though these models are all possible ways of generating revenue for MOOCs, some are more controversial and sensitive than others. Nevertheless unless appropriate business models are identified the sustainability of MOOCs would be problematic.

Optimal power management strategy for energy storage with stochastic loads

In this paper, a power management strategy (PMS) has been developed for the control of energy storage in a system subjected to loads of random duration. The PMS minimises the costs associated with the energy consumption of specific systems powered by a primary energy source and equipped with energy storage, under the assumption that the statistical distribution of load durations is known. By including the variability of the load in the cost function, it was possible to define the optimality criteria for the power flow of the storage. Numerical calculations have been performed obtaining the control strategies associated with the global minimum in energy costs, for a wide range of initial conditions of the system. The results of the calculations have been tested on a MATLAB/Simulink model of a rubber tyre gantry (RTG) crane equipped with a flywheel energy storage system (FESS) and subjected to a test cycle, which corresponds to the real operation of a crane in the Port of Felixstowe. The results of the model show increased energy savings and reduced peak power demand with respect to existing control strategies, indicating considerable potential savings for port operators in terms of energy and maintenance costs.

Enhancing cloud computing environments using a cluster as a service

The emergence of cloud computing has caused a significant change in how IT infrastructures are provided to research and business organizations. Instead of paying for expensive hardware and incur excessive maintenance costs, it is now possible to rent the IT infrastructure of other organizations for a minimal fee. While the existence of cloud computing is new. The elements used to create clouds have been around for some time. Cloud computing systems have been made possible through the use of large-scale clusters, service-oriented architecture (SOA), Web services, and virtualization. While the idea of offering resources via Web services is commonplace in cloud computing, little attention has been paid to the clients themselves specifically, human operators. Despite that clouds host a variety of resources which in turn are accessible to a variety of clients, support for human users is minimal.

An increase in minimum metabolic rate and not activity explains field metabolic rate changes in a breeding seabird

The field metabolic rate (FMR) of a free-ranging animal can be considered as the sum of its maintenance costs (minimum metabolic rate, MMR) and additional costs associated with thermoregulation, digestion, production and activity. However, the relationships between FMR and BMR and how they relate to behaviour and extrinsic influences is not clear. In seabirds, FMR has been shown to increase during the breeding season. This is presumed to be the result of an increase in foraging activity, stimulated by increased food demands from growing chicks, but few studies have investigated in detail the factors that underlie these increases. We studied free-ranging Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) throughout their 5 month breeding season, and evaluated FMR, MMR and activity-related metabolic costs on a daily basis using the heart rate method. In addition, we simultaneously recorded behaviour (flying and diving) in the same individuals. FMR increased steadily throughout the breeding season, increasing by 11% from the incubation period to the long chick-brooding period. However, this was not accompanied by either an increase in flying or diving behaviour, or an increase in the energetic costs of activity. Instead, the changes in FMR could be explained exclusively by a progressive increase in MMR. Seasonal changes in MMR could be due to a change in body composition or a decrease in body condition associated with changing the allocation of resources between provisioning adults and growing chicks. Our study highlights the importance of measuring physiological parameters continuously in free-ranging animals in order to understand fully the mechanisms underpinning seasonal changes in physiology and behaviour.

Problems in seawater industrial desalination processes and potential sustainable solutions: a review

Seawater desalination has significantly developed towards membrane technology than phase change process during last decade. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) in general is the most familiar process due to higher water recovery and lower energy consumption compared to other available desalination processes. Despite major advancements in SWRO technology, desalination industry is still facing significant amount of practical issues. Therefore, the potentials and problems faced by current SWRO industries and essential study areas are discussed in this review for the benefit of desalination industry. It is important to consider all the following five components in SWRO process i.e. (1) intake (2) pre-treatment (3) high pressure pumping (4) membrane separation (performance of membranes and brine disposal) and (5) product quality. Development of higher corrosion resistant piping materials or coating materials, valves, and pumps is believed to be in higher research demand. Furthermore, brine management, that includes brine disposal and resource recovery need further attention. Pre-treatment sludge management and reduced cleaning in place flush volume will reduce the capital costs associated with evaporation ponds and the maintenance costs associated with disposal and transportation reducing the unit cost of water. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

A comparative study on procedure and state of the art of conventional maximum power point tracking techniques for photovoltaic system

Due to the increasing world energy demand, renewable energy systems have been significantly applied in the power generation sector. Among the renewable energy options, photovoltaic system is one of the most popular resources which has been experiencing a huge attention during recent decades. The remarkable advantages, such as static and movement free characteristics, low maintenance costs, and longevity are the primary factors for the popularity of solar generation in the late years. Nevertheless, the low PV conversion efficiency in one side and high PV material cost in the other side have made PV generation comparably expensive system. Consequently, a capable maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is all important to elicit the maximum energy from the production of PV systems. Different researches have been conducted to design a fast, simple and robust MPPT technique under uniform conditions. However, due to the series and parallel connection of PV modules and according to the use of bypass diodes, in the structure of PV modules, a conventional techniques are unable to track a true MPP. Recently, several studies have been undertaken to modify these conventional methods and enable them to track the global MPP under rapidly changing environments and partial shading (PS) conditions. This report concentrates on the state of the art of these methods and their evolution to apply under PS conditions. The recent developments and modifications are analyzed through a comparison based on design complexity, cost, speed and the ability to track the MPP under rapid environmental variations and PS conditions.

Análise preditiva a partir da caracterização das emissões gasosas e do óleo lubrificante em frotas com motorização a diesel

This work was motivated by the importance of conducting a study of vehicle emissions in captive fleets with diesel engine, coupled with the predictive maintenance plan. This type of maintenance includes techniques designed to meet the growing market demand to reduce maintenance costs by increasing the reliability of diagnoses, which has increased interest in automated predictive maintenance on diesel engines, preventing problems that might evolve into routine turn into serious situations, solved only with complex and costly repairs, the Reliability Centered Maintenance, will be the methodology that will make our goal is reached, beyond maintaining the vehicles regulated as fuel consumption and emissions. To Therefore, technical improvements were estimated capable of penetrating the automotive market and give the inshore fleet emission rates of opacity of the vehicles, being directly related to the conditions of the lubricating oil thus contributing to reducing maintenance costs by contributing significantly to emissions of pollutants and an improvement in the air in large cities. This criterion was adopted and implemented, em 241 buses and produced a diagnosis of possible failures by the correlation between the characterization of used lubricating oils and the analysis of opacity, with the objective of the aid the detection and solution of failures for the maintenance of sub-systems according to design criteria, and for this to be a deductive methodology to determine potential causes of failures, has been automated to implement a predictive maintenance system for this purpose was used in our study a mobile unit equipped with a opacimeter and a kit for collection and analysis of lubricating oil and the construction of the network diagnostics, we used a computer program in Microsoft Office Access 2007 platform tool is indispensable for creating a database data, this method is being used and successfully implemented in seven (7) bus companies from the city of Natal (RN) Brazil

Analysis of the different forms of application and types of cutting fluid used in plunge cylindrical grinding using conventional and superabrasive CBN grinding wheels

The work reported here involved an investigation into the grinding process, one of the last finishing processes carried out on a production line. Although several input parameters are involved in this process, attention today focuses strongly on the form and amount of cutting fluid employed, since these substances may be seriously pernicious to human health and to the environment, and involve high purchasing and maintenance costs when utilized and stored incorrectly. The type and amount of cutting fluid used directly affect some of the main output variables of the grinding process which are analyzed here, such as tangential cutting force, specific grinding energy, acoustic emission, diametrical wear, roughness, residual stress and scanning electron microscopy. To analyze the influence of these variables, an optimised fluid application methodology was developed (involving rounded 5, 4 and 3 turn diameter nozzles and high fluid application pressures) to reduce the amount of fluid used in the grinding process and improve its performance in comparison with the conventional fluid application method (of diffuser nozzles and lower fluid application pressure). To this end, two types of cutting fluid (a 5% synthetic emulsion and neat oil) and two abrasive tools (an aluminium oxide and a superabrasive CBN grinding wheel) were used. The results revealed that, in every situation, the optimised application of cutting fluid significantly improved the efficiency of the process, particularly the combined use of neat oil and CBN grinding wheel. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.