Centre of Mathematics of the University of Porto

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Publications

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic to EDUCON: a bibliometric analysis

Publication . Silva, Mariana Miguel; Costa, Alexandra R.; Moura, Ana; Alves, Gustavo R.

In recent years, bibliometrics has been widely used as a methodology for the analysis of scientific production, proving to be an excellent instrument for supporting scientific policy decisions. In this paper, we present a bibliometric analysis of the 12 editions of the Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON). Several indicators were used, namely number of submitted articles, the rate of accepted submissions, number of article citations, and the number of references per article, among other indicators. We also intend to add the comparison of the results obtained in the ten first editions held in-site and the last two editions, which have the particularity of having been carried out fully online, evaluating, by this way, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis to EDUCON. The results show an increase in the number of papers submitted and published over the years, evidencing a growing notoriety of the conference. The same growth tendency is visible regarding the number of authors involved in the conference. Regarding the impact of the online editions, data from the next edition is still required to establish better comparisons and conclusions.

2022Conference object

Restricted access

Analyzing the Implementation of Lean Methodologies and Practices in the Portuguese Industry: A Survey

Publication . Pinto, Carla; Mendonça, Jorge; Babo, Lurdes; Silva, Francisco J. G.; Fernandes, José L. R.

The mass production paradigm on which much of the industry was based has changed. The market is increasingly demanding, requesting diversity and products that are more and more adapted to personal wishes and requirements. This implies producing a greater diversity of products in smaller quantities. Competitiveness is enormous, which forces most companies to be truly effective and efficient, taking care of product quality, delivery time, and final cost. Lean methodologies have been a valuable aid in this field. The diversity of Lean tools has been shown to have answers to the most diverse challenges, and companies are aware of this, increasingly adopting methodologies and processes that aim to progressively reduce waste and adapting their production paradigm to what the market requires. This work intends to provide a vision, as global as possible, of the pathway of Lean implementation in the Portuguese industry. For this purpose, a survey was carried out with a significant sample of Portuguese industrial companies from a wide range of activity sectors. The data collected through the survey were treated statistically, and then a SWOT analysis of the results was performed, which provided a collection of precious information on the evolution of industrial companies in Portugal

2022-02-08Journal article

Open access

Analyzing the Implementation of Lean Methodologies and Practices in the Portuguese Industry: A Survey

Publication . Pinto, Carla M. A.; Mendonça, Jorge; Babo, Lurdes; Silva, Francisco J. G.; Fernandes, José L. R.

The mass production paradigm on which much of the industry was based has changed. The market is increasingly demanding, requesting diversity and products that are more and more adapted to personal wishes and requirements. This implies producing a greater diversity of products in smaller quantities. Competitiveness is enormous, which forces most companies to be truly effective and efficient, taking care of product quality, delivery time, and final cost. Lean methodologies have been a valuable aid in this field. The diversity of Lean tools has been shown to have answers to the most diverse challenges, and companies are aware of this, increasingly adopting methodologies and processes that aim to progressively reduce waste and adapting their production paradigm to what the market requires. This work intends to provide a vision, as global as possible, of the pathway of Lean implementation in the Portuguese industry. For this purpose, a survey was carried out with a significant sample of Portuguese industrial companies from a wide range of activity sectors. The data collected through the survey were treated statistically, and then a SWOT analysis of the results was performed, which provided a collection of precious information on the evolution of industrial companies in Portugal.

2022Journal article

Open access

A model for type I diabetes in an HIV-infected patient under highly active antiretroviral therapy

Publication . Chávez, Joseph Páez; Wijaya, Karunia Putra; Pinto, Carla M. A.; Burgos-Simón, Clara

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), previously known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is an autoimmune disease characterized by the insufficient (or lack of) production of insulin by the pancreas. Insulin is crucial to maintain blood sugar at healthy levels. High blood sugar damages the body and causes a variety of symptoms, ranging from severe thirst, fatigue, to urinary infections. The cells responsible for the production of insulin are the -cells. In T1D, these are killed by an abnormal response of the immune system. Specific clones of cytotoxic T-cells invade the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, and eliminate them. T1D diabetes may develop in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, though in rare situations. In this paper, we propose a cell model for the development of T1D in these patients, after immune restoration, during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The study includes the derivation of the qualitative properties of the model, and its comprehensive investigation via path-following methods, using the continuation platform COCO. In this way, the main theoretical predictions are verified in detail. Furthermore, this numerical part establishes accurate parameter thresholds to ensure an effective disease treatment in HIV-infected persons to prevent the development of T1D.

2022Journal article

Restricted access

Consumer Attitudes toward News Delivering: An Experimental Evaluation of the Use and Efficacy of Personalized Recommendations

Publication . Viana, Paula; Soares, Márcio; Gaio, Rita; Correia, Amilcar

This paper presents an experiment on newsreaders’ behavior and preferences on the interaction with online personalized news. Different recommendation approaches, based on consumption profiles and user location, and the impact of personalized news on several aspects of consumer decision-making are examined on a group of volunteers. Results show a significant preference for reading recommended news over other news presented on the screen, regardless of the chosen editorial layout. In addition, the study also provides support for the creation of profiles taking into consideration the evolution of user’s interests. The proposed solution is valid for users with different reading habits and can be successfully applied even to users with small consumption history. Our findings can be used by news providers to improve online services, thus increasing readers’ perceived satisfaction.

2020Journal article

Open access