A domain specific language for domotic systems

To cope with modernity, the interesting of having a fully automated house has been increasing over the years, as technology evolves and as our lives become more stressful and overloaded. An automation system provides a way to simplify some daily tasks, allowing us to have more spare time to perform activities where we are really needed. There are some systems in this domain that try to implement these characteristics, but this kind of technology is at its early stages of evolution being that it is still far away of empowering the user with the desired control over a habitation. The reason is that the mentioned systems miss some important features such as adaptability, extension and evolution. These systems, developed from a bottom-up approach, are often tailored for programmers and domain experts, discarding most of the times the end users that remain with unfinished interfaces or products that they have difficulty to control. Moreover, complex behaviors are avoided, since they are extremely difficult to implement mostly due to the necessity of handling priorities, conflicts and device calibration. Besides, these solutions are only reachable at very high costs, yet they still have the limitation of being difficult to configure by non-technical people once in runtime operation. As a result, it is necessary to create a tool that allows the execution of several automated actions, with an interface that is easy to use but at the same time supports all the main features of this domain. It is also desirable that this tool is independent of the hardware so it can be reused, thus a Model Driven Development approach (MDD) is the ideal option, as it is a method that follows those principles. Since the automation domain has some very specific concepts, the use of models should be combined with a Domain Specific Language (DSL). With these two methods, it is possible to create a solution that is adapted to the end users, but also to domain experts and programmers due to the several levels of abstraction that can be added to diminish the complexity of use. The aim of this thesis is to design a Domain Specific Language (DSL) that uses the Model Driven Development approach (MDD), with the purpose of supporting Home Automation (HA) concepts. In this implementation, the development of simple and complex scenarios should be supported and will be one of the most important concerns. This DSL should also support other significant features in this domain, such as the ability to schedule tasks, which is something that is limited in the current existing solutions.

Machine diagnosis based on artificial immune systems

Nowadays, many of the manufactory and industrial system has a diagnosis system on top of it, responsible for ensuring the lifetime of the system itself. It achieves this by performing both diagnosis and error recovery procedures in real production time, on each of the individual parts of the system. There are many paradigms currently being used for diagnosis. However, they still fail to answer all the requirements imposed by the enterprises making it necessary for a different approach to take place. This happens mostly on the error recovery paradigms since the great diversity that is nowadays present in the industrial environment makes it highly unlikely for every single error to be fixed under a real time, no production stop, perspective. This work proposes a still relatively unknown paradigm to manufactory. The Artificial Immune Systems (AIS), which relies on bio-inspired algorithms, comes as a valid alternative to the ones currently being used. The proposed work is a multi-agent architecture that establishes the Artificial Immune Systems, based on bio-inspired algorithms. The main goal of this architecture is to solve for a resolution to the error currently detected by the system. The proposed architecture was tested using two different simulation environment, each meant to prove different points of views, using different tests. These tests will determine if, as the research suggests, this paradigm is a promising alternative for the industrial environment. It will also define what should be done to improve the current architecture and if it should be applied in a decentralised system.

HEP-Frame: A software engineered framework to aid the development and efficient multicore execution of scientific code

This work was supported by FCT (Funda����o para a Ci��ncia e Tecnologia) within Project Scope (UID/CEC/00319/2013), by LIP (Laborat��rio de Instrumenta����o e F��sica Experimental de Part��culas) and by Project Search-ON2 (NORTE-07-0162- FEDER-000086), co-funded by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework, through the European Regional Development Fund.

A domain-specific language for ETL patterns specification in Data Warehousing Systems

During the last few years many research efforts have been done to improve the design of ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) systems. ETL systems are considered very time-consuming, error-prone and complex involving several participants from different knowledge domains. ETL processes are one of the most important components of a data warehousing system that are strongly influenced by the complexity of business requirements, their changing and evolution. These aspects influence not only the structure of a data warehouse but also the structures of the data sources involved with. To minimize the negative impact of such variables, we propose the use of ETL patterns to build specific ETL packages. In this paper, we formalize this approach using BPMN (Business Process Modelling Language) for modelling more conceptual ETL workflows, mapping them to real execution primitives through the use of a domain-specific language that allows for the generation of specific instances that can be executed in an ETL commercial tool.

Development of advanced cell/tissue culture systems, based on enhanced polymeric scaffolds and sophisticated bioreactors, for tissue engineering applications

Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Biom��dica

An object-oriented model for rapid prototyping of data path/control systems - a case study

Publicado em "Information control in manufacturing 1998 : (INCOM'98) : advances in industrial engineering : a proceedings volume from the 9th IFAC Symposium, Nancy-Metz, France, 24-26 June 1998. Vol. 2"

Probabilistically analysable real-time systems (PROARTIS)

Critical real-time ebedded (CRTE) Systems require safe and tight worst-case execution time (WCET) estimations to provide required safety levels and keep costs low. However, CRTE Systems require increasing performance to satisfy performance needs of existing and new features. Such performance can be only achieved by means of more agressive hardware architectures, which are much harder to analyze from a WCET perspective. The main features considered include cache mem��ries and multi-core processors.Thus, althoug such features provide higher performance, corrent WCET analysis methods are unable to provide tight WCET estimations. In fact, WCET estimations become worse than for simple rand less powerful hardware. The main reason is the fact that hardware behavior is deterministic but unknown and, therefore, the worst-case behavior must be assumed most of the time, leading to large WCET estimations. The purpose of this project is developing new hardware designs together with WCET analysis tools able to provide tight and safe WCET estimations. In order to do so, those pieces of hardware whose behavior is not easily analyzable due to lack of accurate information during WCET analysis will be enhanced to produce a probabilistically analyzable behavior. Thus, even if the worst-case behavior cannot be removed, its probabilty can be bounded, and hence, a safe and tight WCET can be provided for a particular safety level in line with the safety levels of the remaining components of the system. During the first year the project we have developed molt of the evaluation infraestructure as well as the techniques hardware techniques to analyze cache memories. During the second year those techniques have been evaluated, and new purely-softwar techniques have been developed.

Intvestigate Systems, Summer 2005

Newsletter for Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Summer 2005

Multi-period vendor managed inventory systems

In this paper we develop two models for an inventory system in which the distributormanages the inventory at the retailers location. These type of systems correspondto the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) systems described ib the literature. Thesesystems are very common in many different types of industries, such as retailingand manufacturing, although assuming different characteristics.The objective of our model is to minimize total inventory cost for the distributorin a multi-period multi-retailer setting. The inventory system includes holdingand stock-out costs and we study the case whre an additional fixed setup cost ischarged per delivery.We construct a numerical experiment to analyze the model bahavior and observe theimpact of the characteristics of the model on the solutions.

Implementing the Product Configurator in a Large Manufacturing Company

Ty��n tavoitteena on kuvata hissin ovien tuotekonfigurointiprosessia sek�� SAP R/3 tuotekonfiguraattorin k��ytt����noton aiheuttamia vaikutuksia. Ty��ss�� kuvataan my��s uuden tuotekonfiguraattorin kehityst��, testausta, k��ytt����nottoa sek�� pitk��aikaishallintaa. Tuotekonfigurointi on tehokas tapa toteuttaa massar����t��l��inti��. Sen tarkoituksena on yhdist���� massatuotannon ja asiakaskohtaisen tuotannon etuja tarjoamalla asiakkaille r����t��l��ityj��, esisuunniteltuihin komponentteihin ja ennalta m����r��ttyyn konfigurointimalliin perustuvia tuotteita. N��it�� tuotteita tuotetaan konfigurointiprosessissa. T��m�� prosessi voi olla eritt��in monimutkainen ja altis virheille, joten sen tueksi on kehitetty tuotekonfiguraattoreita. Tuotekonfiguraattorit voivat tehostaa konfigurointiprosessia merkitt��v��sti. KONE on valmistanut konfiguroitavia tuotteita useita vuosikymmeni�� ja se on k��ytt��nyt prosessien tukemiseen useita eri konfiguraattoreita. N��in ollen uuden konfiguraattorin k��ytt����noton vaikutusten ei oleteta olevan niin dramaattisia kuin otettaessa konfiguraattoria k��ytt����n ensimm��isen kerran. Uudella konfiguraattorilla on kuitenkin useita vaikutuksia tuotteen hallintaan, konfigurointiprosessiin, tietoj��rjestelmiin, alihankkijoihin sek�� asiakkaisiin. Konfiguraattorin k��ytt����noton vaikutuksia tehostaa projektin liittyminen ERP j��rjestelm��n k��ytt����nottoon

Robots and robotic systems for the electronics and telecommunication industry

T��m�� diplomity�� tutkii elektroniikka- ja telekommunikaatioteollisuutta sek�� siihen l��heisesti liittyvi�� robotteja ja robottij��rjestelmi��. Tavoitteena on m����ritt���� E&T-teollisuuden prosesseihin soveltuvien robottien testausmenetelm��. Tavoitteena on my��s selvitt���� kahden ABB:n robotin soveltuvuutta E&T-teollisuuden tarpeisiin. Muutamia systemaattisia valmistusj��rjestelmien suunnitteluun soveltuvia menetelmi�� ja apuv��lineit�� on my��s k��sitelty. Alussa ty�� keskittyy elektroniikka- ja telekommunikaatioteollisuuden nykytilan tutkimiseen sek�� siell�� vallitsevien ja ennustettujen trendien kartoitukseen. Kohdat ���Collaborative manufacturing��� ja E&T-teollisuuden valmistusj��rjestelmille asettamat vaatimukset k��yd����n yksityiskohtaisesti l��pi. Tutkimuksen p����kohteina ovat robotit, erityisesti ABB:n IRB 140 ja IRB 340 sek�� robottien testausmenetelm��n m����ritt��minen. Ty��ss�� k��yd����n l��pi IRB 340:ll�� suoritetut testit, jotka tehtiin sek�� konen��k��j��rjestelm���� apuna k��ytt��en ett�� ilman. My��s TTKK:lla suoritetut robottitestit on k��yty l��pi. Robottien testituloksia on analysoitu ja vertailtu muihin robotteihin. Testausmenetelm��t perustuvat ISO 9283 standardiin. Viimeinen osa ty��st�� esittelee robottij��rjestelmien systemaattiseen suunnitteluun soveltuvia menetelmi�� ja apuv��lineit��. Esill�� ovat mm. Modular function deployment (MFD) ja The system design method (SDM).

Management Control for Corporate Sustainability Execution: The Role of Employee Compensation

The research described in this thesis examines the characteristics, the benefits and the challenges associated with the implementation of management accounting systems in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Applied to the CSR context, management accounting relates to the identification, elaboration and communication of information about an organization's interactions with the society and the environment. Based on this information, firms are able to make decisions to achieve social and environmental objectives and provide evidence justifying the benefits and the costs of such actions. The study begins by focusing on green management and exploring the characteristics of Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) systems within firms. The first chapter informs the reader about the growing body of EMA research and reveals unexplored relevant aspects that need to be further investigated. The work also emphasizes the importance of developing new theoretical hypotheses and appropriate research designs to empirically tackle new aspects of EMA and gain understanding on the use of these practices. Subsequently, given the acknowledged importance of control systems in influencing the behaviour of individuals within organizations, the remaining two chapters of the dissertation focus on the functioning of CSR-linked incentives assigned to employees in the form of compensation plans. The second chapter examines the determinants influencing corporate provision of incentives for the attainment of environmental targets. Empirical analysis of a sample of international firms reveals that companies are likely to use green incentives as mechanisms to increase the efficacy in contracting with their employees as well as to respond to social influences. Finally, the third chapter investigates the effectiveness of contracting associated with the use of CSR-linked executive compensation. Empirical analysis of a sample of US-based companies shows that corporate choice to tie senior executives' pay to CSR targets promotes the firm's CSR performance. Cette th��se examine les caract��ristiques, avantages et d��fis associ��s �� l'utilisation des syst��mes de contr��le de gestion dans le domaine de la Responsabilit�� Sociale des Entreprises (RSE). Dans le contexte de la RSE, les activit��s du contr��le de gestion impliquent l'identification, l'��laboration et la communication d'informations qui concernent les interactions des organisations avec la soci��t�� et l'environnement. Avec ces informations les entreprises sont en mesure de prendre des d��cisions visant �� atteindre les objectifs sociaux et environnementaux de l'organisation et de documenter les b��n��fices et co��ts de ces actions. D��s le d��but, la th��se se concentre sur les caract��ristiques des syst��mes de contr��le de gestion environnementale au sein des entreprises. Le premier chapitre passe en revue la litt��rature existante et r��v��le des aspects inexplor��s. Pour ce faire, le travail sugg��re le d��veloppement de nouvelles th��ories ainsi que l'utilisation de m��thodes appropri��es. Ces derni��res doivent permettre d'aborder empiriquement de nouveaux aspects des syst��mes de contr��le environnemental et faciliter la compr��hension sur l'utilisation de ces pratiques. Consid��rant l'importance des syst��mes de contr��le pour influencer le comportement des individus au sein des organisations, la suite du travail se concentre sur le fonctionnement des contrats de r��mun��ration des employ��es li��es aux r��sultats de la RSE. Plus particuli��rement, le deuxi��me chapitre examine les facteurs qui influencent la d��cision des entreprises d'assigner des objectifs environnementaux aux employ��es. L'analyse empirique d'un ��chantillon d'entreprises internationales montre que les entreprises sont susceptibles d'utiliser des m��canismes incitatifs ��cologiques pour augmenter l'efficacit�� des contrats ainsi que pour r��pondre aux influences sociales. Finalement, le troisi��me chapitre analyse l'efficacit�� des contrats de r��mun��ration des dirigeants li��s aux r��sultats de la RSE. L'analyse empirique d'un ��chantillon de soci��t��s am��ricaines indique que le choix de l'entreprise de lier la r��mun��ration des dirigeants �� des objectifs de la RSE favorise la performance RSE de l'organisation.

Managing manufacturing data and improving its accuracy

There are two main objects in this study: First, to prove the importance of data accuracy to the business success, and second, create a tool for observing and improving the accuracy of ERP systems production master data. Sub-objective is to explain the need for new tool in client company and the meaning of it for the company. In the theoretical part of this thesis the focus is in stating the importance of data accuracy in decision making and it's implications on business success. Also basics of manufacturing planning are introduced in order to explain the key vocabulary. In the empirical part the client company and its need for this study is introduced. New master data report is introduced, and finally, analysing the report and actions based on the results of analysis are explained. The main results of this thesis are finding the interdependence between data accuracy and business success, and providing a report for continuous master data improvement in the client company's ERP system.

Technology roadmap for new sales support and management system for crane manufacturing company

Sales configurators are essential tools for companies that offer complicated case specifically crafted products for customers. Most sophisticated of them are able to design an entire end product on the fly according to given constraints, calculate price for the offer and move the order into production. This thesis covers a sales configurator acquisition project in a large industrial company that offers cranes for its customers. The study spans the preliminary stages of a large-scale software purchase project starting from the specification of problem domain and ending up presenting the most viable software solution that fulfils the requirements for the new system. The project consists of mapping usage environment, use cases, and collecting requirements that are expected from the new system. The collected requirements involve fitting the new sales system into enterprise application infrastructure, mitigating the risks involved in the project and specifying new features to the application whilst preserving all of the admired features of the old sales system currently used in the company. The collected requirements were presented to a number of different sales software vendors who were asked to provide solution suggestions that would fulfil all the demands. All of the received solution proposals were exposed to an evaluation to determine the most feasible solutions, and the construction of evaluation criteria itself was a part of the study. The final outcome of this study is a short-list of the most feasible sales configurator solutions together with a description of how software purchase process in large enterprises work, and which aspects should be paid attention in large projects of similar kind.

Has concentration evolved similarly in manufacturing and services? A sensitivity analysis

Our first objective is to compare the degree of concentration in manufacturing and services, with special emphasis on its evolution in these two sectors, using a sensitivity analysis for different concentration indices and different geographic units of analysis: municipalities and local labour systems of Catalonia in 1991 and 2001. Most concentration measures fail to consider the space in which a particular municipality is located. Our second objective is to overcome this problem by applying two different techniques: by using a clustering measure, and by analysing whether the location quotients computed for each municipality and sector present some kind of spatial autocorrelation process. We take special account of the differences in patterns of concentration according to the technological level of the sectors.