Fostering e-participation sustainability through a BPM-driven semantic model

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey (2014), 68% of Europeans tend not to trust national governments. As the increasing alienation of citizens from politics endangers democracy and welfare, governments, practitioners and researchers look for innovative means to engage citizens in policy matters. One of the measures intended to overcome the so-called democratic deficit is the promotion of civic participation. Digital media proliferation offers a set of novel characteristics related to interactivity, ubiquitous connectivity, social networking and inclusiveness that enable new forms of societal-wide collaboration with a potential impact on leveraging participative democracy. Following this trend, e-Participation is an emerging research area that consists in the use of Information and Communication Technologies to mediate and transform the relations among citizens and governments towards increasing citizens’ participation in public decision-making. However, despite the widespread efforts to implement e-Participation through research programs, new technologies and projects, exhaustive studies on the achieved outcomes reveal that it has not yet been successfully incorporated in institutional politics. Given the problems underlying e-Participation implementation, the present research suggested that, rather than project-oriented efforts, the cornerstone for successfully implementing e-Participation in public institutions as a sustainable added-value activity is a systematic organisational planning, embodying the principles of open-governance and open-engagement. It further suggested that BPM, as a management discipline, can act as a catalyst to enable the desired transformations towards value creation throughout the policy-making cycle, including political, organisational and, ultimately, citizen value. Following these findings, the primary objective of this research was to provide an instrumental model to foster e-Participation sustainability across Government and Public Administration towards a participatory, inclusive, collaborative and deliberative democracy. The developed artefact, consisting in an e-Participation Organisational Semantic Model (ePOSM) underpinned by a BPM-steered approach, introduces this vision. This approach to e-Participation was modelled through a semi-formal lightweight ontology stack structured in four sub-ontologies, namely e-Participation Strategy, Organisational Units, Functions and Roles. The ePOSM facilitates e-Participation sustainability by: (1) Promoting a common and cross-functional understanding of the concepts underlying e-Participation implementation and of their articulation that bridges the gap between technical and non-technical users; (2) Providing an organisational model which allows a centralised and consistent roll-out of strategy-driven e-Participation initiatives, supported by operational units dedicated to the execution of transformation projects and participatory processes; (3) Providing a standardised organisational structure, goals, functions and roles related to e-Participation processes that enhances process-level interoperability among government agencies; (4) Providing a representation usable in software development for business processes’ automation, which allows advanced querying using a reasoner or inference engine to retrieve concrete and specific information about the e-Participation processes in place. An evaluation of the achieved outcomes, as well a comparative analysis with existent models, suggested that this innovative approach tackling the organisational planning dimension can constitute a stepping stone to harness e-Participation value.

Ympäristöjärjestelmien kehittäminen rakennustuotealan yrityksen Keski-Euroopan toimipaikoissa

Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli antaa kehittämisehdotuksia, joilla voidaan parantaa rakennustuotealan yrityksen ympäristöjärjestelmien kustannustehokkuutta sekä ympäristöpolitiikkaan liittyvän jatkuvan parantamisen yhtenäistä toteutumista eri toimipaikoilla. Lähtökohtana olivat havainnot siitä, että melko pienissä toimipaikoissa laatu- ja ympäristöasiat kattavan toimintajärjestelmän rakentaminen ja ylläpitäminen vie paljon resursseja. Lisäksi selvitettiin uuden ISO 14001-standardiehdotuksen mahdollisia vaikutuksia käytössä oleviin ympäristöjärjestelmiin. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytettiin eri sertifiointielimille tehtyä haastattelua, toimipaikkojen ympäristövastaaville lähetettyä kyselyä, verkkosivuille kohdistettua kilpailijaseurantaa sekä selvitystä uuden ISO 14001- standardiehdotuksen muutoksista. Eri toimipaikkojen ympäristöjärjestelmien yhdistäminen saman sertifikaatin alle oli kaikkien sertifiointielinten edustajien mielestä hyvä tapa vähentää järjestelmien ulkoisesta valvonnasta aiheutuvia kustannuksia ja parantaa järjestelmien tehokkuutta. Ulkoisten kustannusten aleneminen on noin yksikolmasosa, joka syntyy ensinnäkin sertifikaattimaksujen alenemista ja toisaalta sertifiointipäivien vähenemisestä. Sertifikaattimaksut alenevat, koska yhdistetyssä järjestelmässä sertifikaatteja on vähemmän, ja sertifiointipäivien määrä vähenee, koska yhdistetyn järjestelmän ulkoisessa valvonnassa käytetään otanta -periaatetta. Kilpailijaseurannan osalta havaittiin, että yrityksen verkkosivuilla kerrottiin kilpailijoita paremmin ympäristö- sekä laatujärjestelmistä. Kehitettävää on eri maiden verkkosivujen yhtenäisyydessä ja ympäristö- ja laatupolitiikan esittämisessä. Nämä politiikat tulee olla esillä, koska järjestelmästandardit edellyttävät politiikkojen julkisuutta. Ympäristövastaaville tehdyn kyselyn perusteella havaittiin, että tällä hetkellä toimipaikoilla käytössä olevissa ympäristäjärjestelmissä on eroavuuksia. Syynä tähän on muun muassa järjestelmien eri-ikäisyys, maiden toimipaikkojen erilainen lainsäädäntö sekä erilaiset resurssit. Kehittämistä on erityisesti ympäristönnäkökohtien tunnistamisessa ja merkittävien ympäristönäkökohtien valinnassa, ympäristöjärjestelmän tavoitteissa ja päämäärissä sekä käytettävissä indikaattoreissa. Näiden osalta tulee lisätä koulutusta ja ohjeistusta. Uuden ISO 14001 -standardin muutoksia tarkasteltaessa havaittiin, ettei se aiheuta suuria muutostarpeita nykyisiin ympäristöjärjestelmiin. Standardin suurimmat muutokset ovat tulleet tekstin rakenteeseen, joka on nyt selkeälukuista ja yhteensopivampaa ISO 9001 laatuhallintastandardin kanssa. Standardi painottaa entistä standardia enemmän tuotteista aiheutuvia ympäristönäkökohtia, mutta on muistettava, että sen vaikutukset nykyisiin ympäristöjärjestelmiin tiedetään vasta, kun sitä aletaan tulkita. Tulosten perusteella päädyttiin siihen, että ympäristöjärjestelmien yhdistäminen saman sertifikaatin alle on tehokkain tapa parantaa kustannustehokkuutta sekä parantaa ympäristöpolitiikkaan liittyvää jatkuvaa parantamista. Ulkoisten kustannusten aleminen ei ole tärkein syy järjestelmien yhdistämiseen, koska yhdistämisen alkuvaiheessa se aiheuttaa sisäisten kustannusten lisääntymistä. Jatkossa yhdistämisestä voidaan odottaa myös sisäisten kustannusten säästöjä, koska yhdistäminen vähentää päällekkäistä työtä. Yrityksen ympäristöpolitiikan mukaiseen jatkuvaan parantamiseen järjestelmien yhdistäminen vaikuttaa positiivisesti usealla tavalla, ja tätä voidaan pitää kustannussäästöjä tärkeämpänä syynä sertifikaattien yhdistämiseen. Se yhtenäistää toimintatapoja ja lisää yhteistyötä, mikä vaikuttaa ympäristöpolitiikan yhtenäiseen toteutumiseen.

Success Factors of an Enterprise Resource Planning System

Työn tarkoituksena oli tutkia yrityksen eri yksiköiden toiminnaohjausjärjestelmiä sekä verrata niiden menestystekijöitä Adelakunin malliin tietojärjestelmien laatuulottuvuuksista. Siinä järjestelmän kokonaislaatu jaetaan liiketoiminnalliseen, tekniseen ja käyttäjän kokemaan laatuun. Tulosten perusteella oli myös tavoitteena kehittää kyseisen toiminnanojausjärjestelmän kehittämistä varten malli onnistumistekijöiden keskinäisestä riippuvuudesta. Tutkittavista järjestelmistä ja niiden käytöstä kerättiin tietoja käyttöönottoprojektien dokumentaatiosta, haastatteluin, kyselylomakkein ja järjestelmäanalyysein. Sekä loppukäyttäjät että yritysjohto olivat kyselyjen ja haastattelujen kohderyhmänä. Saatuja tietoja arvioitiin Adelakunin kolmiulotteisen tietojärjestelmän laatutekijämallin mukaisesti ja keskeisiä menestystekijöitä etsittiin. Tutkituissa tapauksissa tietojärjestelmien menestyksen taustalta löytyi alan kirjallisuuden kanssa yhtäpitäviä tekijöitä. Myös Adelakunin laatu-ulottuvuusmalli osoittautui validiksi tutkituissa tapauksissa. Keskeisten menestystekijöiden välisistä vuorovaikutussuhteista rakennettiin malli, jota voidaan hyödyntää kyseisen järjestelmän jatkokehityksessä.

DAI-DEPUR: an integrated and distributed architecture for wastewater treatment plants supervision

The activated sludge process - the main biological technology usually applied towastewater treatment plants (WWTP) - directly depends on live beings (microorganisms), and therefore on unforeseen changes produced by them. It could be possible to get a good plant operation if the supervisory control system is able to react to the changes and deviations in the system and can take thenecessary actions to restore the system’s performance. These decisions are oftenbased both on physical, chemical, microbiological principles (suitable to bemodelled by conventional control algorithms) and on some knowledge (suitable to be modelled by knowledge-based systems). But one of the key problems in knowledge-based control systems design is the development of an architecture able to manage efficiently the different elements of the process (integrated architecture), to learn from previous cases (spec@c experimental knowledge) and to acquire the domain knowledge (general expert knowledge). These problems increase when the process belongs to an ill-structured domain and is composed of several complex operational units. Therefore, an integrated and distributed AIarchitecture seems to be a good choice. This paper proposes an integrated and distributed supervisory multi-level architecture for the supervision of WWTP, that overcomes some of the main troubles of classical control techniques and those of knowledge-based systems applied to real world systems

Susteinable steelmaking by process integration

Environmental issues, including global warming, have been serious challenges realized worldwide, and they have become particularly important for the iron and steel manufacturers during the last decades. Many sites has been shut down in developed countries due to environmental regulation and pollution prevention while a large number of production plants have been established in developing countries which has changed the economy of this business. Sustainable development is a concept, which today affects economic growth, environmental protection, and social progress in setting up the basis for future ecosystem. A sustainable headway may attempt to preserve natural resources, recycle and reuse materials, prevent pollution, enhance yield and increase profitability. To achieve these objectives numerous alternatives should be examined in the sustainable process design. Conventional engineering work cannot address all of these substitutes effectively and efficiently to find an optimal route of processing. A systematic framework is needed as a tool to guide designers to make decisions based on overall concepts of the system, identifying the key bottlenecks and opportunities, which lead to an optimal design and operation of the systems. Since the 1980s, researchers have made big efforts to develop tools for what today is referred to as Process Integration. Advanced mathematics has been used in simulation models to evaluate various available alternatives considering physical, economic and environmental constraints. Improvements on feed material and operation, competitive energy market, environmental restrictions and the role of Nordic steelworks as energy supplier (electricity and district heat) make a great motivation behind integration among industries toward more sustainable operation, which could increase the overall energy efficiency and decrease environmental impacts. In this study, through different steps a model is developed for primary steelmaking, with the Finnish steel sector as a reference, to evaluate future operation concepts of a steelmaking site regarding sustainability. The research started by potential study on increasing energy efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction due to integration of steelworks with chemical plants for possible utilization of available off-gases in the system as chemical products. These off-gases from blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace and coke oven furnace are mainly contained of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen and partially methane (in coke oven gas) and have proportionally low heating value but are currently used as fuel within these industries. Nonlinear optimization technique is used to assess integration with methanol plant under novel blast furnace technologies and (partially) substitution of coal with other reducing agents and fuels such as heavy oil, natural gas and biomass in the system. Technical aspect of integration and its effect on blast furnace operation regardless of capital expenditure of new operational units are studied to evaluate feasibility of the idea behind the research. Later on the concept of polygeneration system added and a superstructure generated with alternative routes for off-gases pretreatment and further utilization on a polygeneration system producing electricity, district heat and methanol. (Vacuum) pressure swing adsorption, membrane technology and chemical absorption for gas separation; partial oxidation, carbon dioxide and steam methane reforming for methane gasification; gas and liquid phase methanol synthesis are the main alternative process units considered in the superstructure. Due to high degree of integration in process synthesis, and optimization techniques, equation oriented modeling is chosen as an alternative and effective strategy to previous sequential modelling for process analysis to investigate suggested superstructure. A mixed integer nonlinear programming is developed to study behavior of the integrated system under different economic and environmental scenarios. Net present value and specific carbon dioxide emission is taken to compare economic and environmental aspects of integrated system respectively for different fuel systems, alternative blast furnace reductants, implementation of new blast furnace technologies, and carbon dioxide emission penalties. Sensitivity analysis, carbon distribution and the effect of external seasonal energy demand is investigated with different optimization techniques. This tool can provide useful information concerning techno-environmental and economic aspects for decision-making and estimate optimal operational condition of current and future primary steelmaking under alternative scenarios. The results of the work have demonstrated that it is possible in the future to develop steelmaking towards more sustainable operation.

DAI-DEPUR: an integrated and distributed architecture for wastewater treatment plants supervision

The activated sludge process - the main biological technology usually applied to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) - directly depends on live beings (microorganisms), and therefore on unforeseen changes produced by them. It could be possible to get a good plant operation if the supervisory control system is able to react to the changes and deviations in the system and can take the necessary actions to restore the system’s performance. These decisions are often based both on physical, chemical, microbiological principles (suitable to be modelled by conventional control algorithms) and on some knowledge (suitable to be modelled by knowledge-based systems). But one of the key problems in knowledge-based control systems design is the development of an architecture able to manage efficiently the different elements of the process (integrated architecture), to learn from previous cases (spec@c experimental knowledge) and to acquire the domain knowledge (general expert knowledge). These problems increase when the process belongs to an ill-structured domain and is composed of several complex operational units. Therefore, an integrated and distributed AI architecture seems to be a good choice. This paper proposes an integrated and distributed supervisory multi-level architecture for the supervision of WWTP, that overcomes some of the main troubles of classical control techniques and those of knowledge-based systems applied to real world systems

A construção de uma marca corporativa global no sucesso da internacionalização: um desafio às empresas brasileiras do segmento business to business

Considerando o crescente número de empresas brasileiras que tem investido em unidades operacionais no exterior e a necessidade de criar a identidade de uma corporação transnacional, esta pesquisa objetivou explorar a existência e a influência de um processo estruturado de construção de marca corporativa global por parte de empresas transnacionais brasileiras do segmento business to business. Um estudo múltiplo de casos foi realizado entre cinco empresas significativas listadas no ranking de transnacionalidade. Ao final desta pesquisa, foi possível verificar que embora todas as empresas estudadas afirmarem possuir um processo de construção de marca corporativa global, tal fato não se confirmou. Também verificou-se que o nível de maturidade do processo entre as empresas é diverso, bem como a sua importância no sucesso da internacionalização, diante das características distintas das corporações estudadas. Uma série de dificuldades neste processo, bem como as soluções adotadas e propostas são indicadas. A relevância dos diversos stakeholders no Brasil e no exterior no processo de internacionalização foi analisada, e entre as empresas estudadas não houve uma forte distinção destes no Brasil e no exterior. Verificou-se haver aderência entre os processos espontâneos de construção de marca corporativa das empresas e as linhas de pensamento dos pesquisadores estudados, existindo peculiaridades na maneira em como o processo se estabelece e em como a identidade corporativa se expressa.

Relationship between citrus productivity and indicators of uniformity in trickle irrigation system

In trickle irrigation systems, the design is based on the pre-established emission uniformity (EU) which is the combined result of the equipment characteristics and its hydraulic configuration. However, this desired value of the EU may not be confirmed by the final project (in field conditions) and neither by the yield uniformity. The hypotheses of this research were: a) the EU of a trickle irrigation system at field conditions is equal to the emission uniformity pre-established in the its design; b) EU has always the lowest value when compared with other indicators of uniformity; c) the discharge variation coefficient (VC) is not equal to production variation coefficient in the operational unit; d) the difference between the discharge variation coefficient and the productivity variation coefficient depends on the water depth applied. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between EU used in the irrigation system design and the final yield uniformity. The uniformity indicators evaluated were: EU, distribution uniformity (UD) and the index proposed by Barragan & Wu (2005). They were compared estimating the performance of a trickle irrigation system applied in a citrus orchard with dimensions of 400m x 600m. The design of the irrigation system was optimized by a Linear Programming model. The tree rows were leveled in the larger direction and the spacing adopted in the orchard was 7m x 4m. The manifold line was always operating on a slope condition. The sensitivity analysis involved different slopes, 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12%, and different values of emission uniformity, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 94%. The citrus yield uniformity was evaluated by the variation coefficient. The emission uniformity (EU) after design differed from the EU pre-established, more sharply in the initial values lower than 90%. Comparing the uniformity indexes, the EU always generated lower values when compared with the UD and with the index proposed by Barragan. The emitter variation coefficient was always lower than the productivity variation coefficient. To obtain uniformity of production, it is necessary to consider the irrigation system uniformity and mainly the water depth to be applied.

Desarrollo de un modelo integral de evaluación para instituciones de educación superior y análisis de su impacto en la planificación y gestión institucional

El propósito de esta tesis doctoral es el desarrollo de un modelo integral de evaluación de la gestión para instituciones de educación superior (IES), fundamentado en valorar la gestión de diferentes subsistemas que la integran, así como estudiar el impacto en la planificación y gestión institucional. Este Modelo de Evaluación Institucional fue denominado Modelo Integral de Evaluación de Gestión de las IES (MIEGIES), que incorpora la gestión de la complejidad, los aspectos gerenciales, el compromiso o responsabilidad social, los recursos, además de los procesos propios universitarios con una visión integral de la gestión. Las bases conceptuales se establecen por una revisión del contexto mundial de la educación superior, pasando por un análisis sobre evaluación y calidad en entornos universitarios. La siguiente reflexión conceptual versó sobre la gestión de la complejidad, de la gestión gerencial, de la gestión de responsabilidad social universitaria, de la gestión de los recursos y de la gestión de los procesos, seguida por un aporte sobre modelaje y modelos. Para finalizar, se presenta un resumen teórico sobre el alcance de la aplicación de ecuaciones estructurales para la validación de modelos. El desarrollo del modelo conceptual, dimensiones e indicadores, fue efectuado aplicando los principios de la metodología de sistemas suaves –SSM. Para ello, se identifica la definición raíz (DR), la razón sistémica de ser del modelo, para posteriormente desarrollar sus componentes y principios conceptuales. El modelo quedó integrado por cinco subsistemas, denominados: de la Complejidad, de la Responsabilidad Social Universitaria, Gerencial, de Procesos y de Recursos. Los subsistemas se consideran como dimensiones e indicadores para el análisis y son los agentes críticos para el funcionamiento de una IES. Los aspectos referidos a lo Epistemetodológico, comenzó por identificar el enfoque epistemológico que sustenta el abordaje metodológico escogido. A continuación se identifican los elementos clásicos que se siguieron para llevar a cabo la investigación: Alcance o profundidad, población y muestra, instrumentos de recolección de información y su validación, para finalizar con la explicación procedimental para validar el modelo MIEGIES. La población considerada para el estudio empírico de validación fueron 585 personas distribuidas entre alumnos, docentes, personal administrativo y directivos de una Universidad Pública Venezolana. La muestra calculada fue de 238 individuos, número considerado representativo de la población. La aplicación de los instrumentos diseñados y validados permitió la obtención de un conjunto de datos, a partir de los cuales se validó el modelo MIEGIES. La validación del Modelo MIGEIES parte de sugerencias conceptuales para el análisis de los datos. Para ello se identificaron las variables relevantes, que pueden ser constructos o conceptos, las variables latentes que no pueden ser medidas directamente, sino que requiere seleccionar los indicadores que mejor las representan. Se aplicó la estrategia de modelación confirmatoria de los Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales (SEM). Para ello se parte de un análisis descriptivo de los datos, estimando la fiabilidad. A continuación se aplica un análisis factorial exploratorio y un análisis factorial confirmatorio. Para el análisis de la significancia del modelo global y el impacto en la planificación y gestión, se consideran el análisis de coeficientes de regresión y la tabla de ANOVA asociada, la cual de manera global especifica que el modelo planteado permite explicar la relación entre las variables definidas para la evaluación de la gestión de las IES. Así mismo, se encontró que este resultado de manera global explica que en la evaluación institucional tiene mucha importancia la gestión de la calidad y las finanzas. Es de especial importancia destacar el papel que desarrolla la planificación estratégica como herramienta de gestión que permite apoyar la toma de decisiones de las organizaciones en torno al quehacer actual y al camino que deben recorrer en el futuro para adecuarse a los cambios y a las demandas que les impone el entorno. El contraste estadístico de los dos modelos ajustados, el teórico y el empírico, permitió a través de técnicas estadísticas multivariables, demostrar de manera satisfactoria, la validez y aplicación del modelo propuesto en las IES. Los resultados obtenidos permiten afirmar que se pueden estimar de manera significativa los constructos que definen la evaluación de las instituciones de educación superior mediante el modelo elaborado. En el capítulo correspondiente a Conclusiones, se presenta en una de las primeras instancias, la relación conceptual propuesta entre los procesos de evaluación de la gestión institucional y de los cinco subsistemas que la integran. Posteriormente se encuentra que los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales con base en la estrategia de modelación confirmatoria es una herramienta estadística adecuada en la validación del modelo teórico, que fue el procedimiento propuesto en el marco de la investigación. En cuanto al análisis del impacto del Modelo en la Planificación y la Gestión, se concluye que ésta es una herramienta útil para cerrar el círculo de evaluación institucional. La planificación y la evaluación institucional son procesos inherentes a la filosofía de gestión. Es por ello que se recomienda su práctica como de necesario cumplimiento en todas las instancias funcionales y operativas de las Instituciones de Educación Superior. ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is the development of a comprehensive model of management evaluation for higher education institutions (HEIs), based on evaluating the management of different subsystems and study the impact on planning and institutional management. This model was named Institutional Assessment Comprehensive Evaluation Model for the Management of HEI (in Spanish, MIEGIES). The model incorporates the management of complexity, management issues, commitment and social responsibility and resources in addition to the university's own processes with a comprehensive view of management. The conceptual bases are established by a review of the global context of higher education, through analysis and quality assessment in university environments. The following conceptual discussions covered the management of complexity, management practice, management of university social responsibility, resources and processes, followed by a contribution of modeling and models. Finally, a theoretical overview of the scope of application of structural equation model (SEM) validation is presented. The development of the conceptual model, dimensions and indicators was carried out applying the principles of soft systems methodology (SSM). For this, the root definition (RD), the systemic rationale of the model, to further develop their components and conceptual principles are identified. The model was composed of five subsystems, called: Complexity, University Social Responsibility, Management, Process and Resources. The subsystems are considered as dimensions and measures for analysis and are critical agents for the functioning of HEIs. In matters relating to epistemology and methodology we began to identify the approach that underpins the research: Scope, population and sample and data collection instruments. The classic elements that were followed to conduct research are identified. It ends with the procedural explanation to validate the MIEGIES model. The population considered for the empirical validation study was composed of 585 people distributed among students, faculty, staff and authorities of a public Venezuelan university. The calculated sample was 238 individuals, number considered representative of the population. The application of designed and validated instruments allowed obtaining a data set, from which the MIEGIES model was validated. The MIGEIES Model validation is initiated by the theoretical analysis of concepts. For this purpose the relevant variables that can be concepts or constructs were identified. The latent variables cannot be measured directly, but require selecting indicators that best represent them. Confirmatory modeling strategy of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied. To do this, we start from a descriptive analysis of the data, estimating reliability. An exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were applied. To analyze the significance of the overall models the analysis of regression coefficients and the associated ANOVA table are considered. This comprehensively specifies that the proposed model can explain the relationship between the variables defined for evaluating the management of HEIs. It was also found that this result comprehensively explains that for institutional evaluation quality management and finance are very important. It is especially relevant to emphasize the role developed by strategic planning as a management tool that supports the decision making of organizations around their usual activities and the way they should evolve in the future in order to adapt to changes and demands imposed by the environment. The statistical test of the two fitted models, the theoretical and the empirical, enabled through multivariate statistical techniques to demonstrate satisfactorily the validity and application of the proposed model for HEIs. The results confirm that the constructs that define the evaluation of HEIs in the developed model can be estimated. In the Conclusions section the conceptual relationship between the processes of management evaluation and the five subsystems that comprise it are shown. Subsequently, it is indicated that structural equation models based on confirmatory modeling strategy is a suitable statistical tool in validating the theoretical model, which was proposed in the framework of the research procedure. The impact of the model in Planning and Management indicates that this is a useful tool to complete the institutional assessment. Planning and institutional assessment processes are inherent in management philosophy. That is why its practice is recommended as necessary compliance in all functional and operational units of HEIs.

Reconfiguration of supply chain network:an ISM-based roadmap to performance

Purpose: Short product life cycle and/or mass customization necessitate reconfiguration of operational enablers of supply chain (SC) from time to time in order to harness high levels of performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key operational enablers under stochastic environment on which practitioner should focus while reconfiguring a SC network. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach that presents a hierarchy-based model and the mutual relationships among the enablers. The contextual relationship needed for developing structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) among various enablers is realized by conducting experiments through simulation of a hypothetical SC network. Findings: The research identifies various operational enablers having a high driving power towards assumed performance measures. In this regard, these enablers require maximum attention and of strategic importance while reconfiguring SC. Practical implications: ISM provides a useful tool to the SC managers to strategically adopt and focus on the key enablers which have comparatively greater potential in enhancing the SC performance under given operational settings. Originality/value: The present research realizes the importance of SC flexibility under the premise of reconfiguration of the operational units in order to harness high value of SC performance. Given the resulting digraph through ISM, the decision maker can focus the key enablers for effective reconfiguration. The study is one of the first efforts that develop contextual relations among operational enablers for SSIM matrix through integration of discrete event simulation to ISM. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Tiro de Artilharia vs. Tiro de Morteiro : Procedimentos

A presente investigação tem como objetivo identificar as diferenças existentes entre os procedimentos técnicos relativos ao tiro de Artilharia de Campanha e ao tiro de Morteiro. Tem por finalidade estudar a possibilidade de uniformização dos procedimentos, no que respeita aos procedimentos de Pontaria, cálculo dos Elementos de Tiro, Pedido e Regulação de Tiro e à Segurança, utilizados pelas unidades de tiro de Artilharia de Campanha e de Morteiro. O trabalho estuda cada tipo de procedimento, começando por enunciá-los e explicar os seus métodos, finalidade e determinação, tanto para o tiro de Artilharia de Campanha como para o tiro de Morteiro. Os procedimentos são comparados através de tabelas e sínteses, com o objetivo de analisar o porquê de serem executados da maneira prevista na doutrina, remetendo dessa forma para o estudo da sua possível padronização. Como método de recolha de dados foram submetidos inquéritos livres a oficiais subalternos de diversas unidades de formação e operacionais relacionadas com a instrução e execução do tiro de Artilharia de Campanha e de Morteiro, de forma a recolher a sua opinião sobre a viabilidade de adoção dos procedimentos e esclarecimento de dúvidas. Foram depois realizadas análises comparativas para verificar quais os procedimentos que apresentam possibilidade de uniformização. No final os procedimentos padronizáveis foram identificados e comparados com os procedimentos executados pelo Grupo de Artilharia de Campanha da Brigada de Reação Rápida, à qual pertence uma Bateria integrada na NATO Response Force 16. Sendo a única unidade orgânica a nível nacional que opera com meios de tiro de Artilharia de Campanha e de Morteiro, a sua análise foi crucial para a investigação. Dado que a finalidade do trabalho é estudar a possibilidade de adoção de procedimentos comuns, as conclusões tiveram a sua origem na análise comparativa com os procedimentos desta unidade. Verificou-se assim que os procedimentos são padronizáveis, mas que são necessárias algumas condições para que possam ser aplicados, devido às diferenças na orgânica e tática entre as unidades de tiro de Artilharia de Campanha e de Morteiro, à diferença técnica das armas e dos meios auxiliares de cálculo dos Elementos de Tiro e técnica dos dois tipos de tiro.

Os recursos cinotécnicos e a sua necessidade no Exército Português

No âmbito do Relatório Científico Final do Trabalho de Investigação Aplicada, o presente trabalho com o título “Os Recursos Cinotécnicos e a sua necessidade no Exército Português” estuda o emprego operacional atual, fruto das valências cinotécnicas existentes e as tarefas operacionais que podem, pelos referidos recursos, ser apoiadas. O autor considera também as características físicas do cão, as implicações logísticas e financeiras e a doutrina que concorrem para o referido emprego operacional, elencando lacunas existentes que, quando colmatadas poderão concorrer para um emprego operacional eficiente dos recursos cinotécnicos do Exército Português. Para obtenção de dados foi conduzida análise documental e bibliográfica e efetuados inquéritos por entrevista a comandantes de Batalhão/ Grupo com meios cinotécnicos na sua orgânica ou em apoio aos mesmos, aos comandantes das unidades cinotécnicas do Exército Português e dos restantes ramos das Forças Armadas e Forças de Segurança, ainda a comandantes da Força de Operações Especiais. O objetivo deste trabalho passa por avaliar de que forma podem os recursos cinotécnicos do Exército Português contribuir para o melhor desempenho das suas unidades operacionais. Para a consecução do mesmo o autor fez uso do método indutivo onde, com base no emprego operacional junto dos Paraquedistas e da Polícia do Exército, generalizou o que poderia ser profícuo para todas as unidades operacionais do Exército Português, bem como todas as lacunas que devem ser colmatadas para apoio ao mesmo. No âmbito da doutrina é importante o fornecimento aos comandantes das unidades apoiadas informação sobre as capacidades, limitações e regras de segurança relativos ao emprego dos binómios em apoio a cada tarefa das tipologias de operações, fornecendo informações precisas e detalhadas sobre o que cada tipo de cão consegue fazer, durante quanto tempo e em que condições ambientais pois, mesmo havendo atualmente a PDE 0-20-18, sendo a cinotecnia uma área muito técnica, a falta da referida doutrina pode se transformar numa condicionante ao emprego dos binómios. A referida PDE, atualmente, assume-se como um potenciador do emprego dos recursos cinotécnicos. No âmbito logístico pode ser pensada uma rede logística própria tendo em conta o emprego operacional e a projeção dos binómios, explícitando desde a forma de aquisição dos cães até ao suporte à sua projeção, contudo deve-se pesar, por outro lado, se o emprego dos binómios em treinos operacionais ou em missões assume um peso significativo na manobra logística global de modo a exigir criação de uma rede própria. As características naturais do cão são um potenciador da ação e sentimento de segurança, podendo, ainda, ser usadas para colmatar a falta de efetivos. Quanto ao emprego operacional importa salientar a deteção de explosivos e estupefacientes, os cães de sentinela, binómios de guarda e binómios de exploração (que em simultâneo executam patrulhas de segurança).