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Publications

Publications by SEM

2022

Learning Analytics to close the gap in digital literacy of SMEs

Authors
Silva, RP; Mamede, HS;

Publication
2022 17TH IBERIAN CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES (CISTI)

Abstract
To transform an organization, it isn't possible to ignore the people aspect and the significant impact of talent development in any transformation process. While in larger organizations, there is often access to more resources that ultimately could bring the needed competencies to successfully run such a complex program, in small or medium enterprises, the resources are more limited and the access to talent more difficult, forcing a potential more aggressive strategy in developing the digital skills needed to enable their transformation. This work aims to review some of the literature and better comprehend the role of learning analytics as a practice that could potentially be used to enhance the learning process within Small and Medium Enterprises and support the improvement of digital literacy within these companies.

2022

Variable fixing heuristics for the capacitated multicommodity network flow problem with multiple transport lines, a heterogeneous fleet and time windows

Authors
Guimaraes, LR; de Sousa, JP; Prata, BD;

Publication
TRANSPORTATION LETTERS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

Abstract
In this paper, we investigate a new variant of the multi-commodity network flow problem, taking into consideration multiple transport lines and time windows. This variant arises in a city logistics environment, more specifically in a long-haul passenger transport system that is also used to transport urban freight. We propose two mixed integer programming models for two objective functions: minimization of network operational costs and minimization of travel times. Since the problems under study are NP-hard, we propose three size reduction heuristics. In order to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, we carried out computational experiments on a set of synthetic problem instances. We use the relative percentage deviation as performance criterion. For the cost objective function, a LP-and-Fix algorithm outperforms other methods in most tested instances, but for the travel time, a hybrid method (size reduction with LP-and-Fix algorithm) is, in general, better than other approaches.

2022

Various extensions in resource-constrained project scheduling with alternative subgraphs

Authors
Servranckx, T; Coelho, J; Vanhoucke, M;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH

Abstract
In this research, we present several extensions for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with alternative subgraphs (RCPSP-AS). First of all, we investigate more complex variants of the alternative project structure. More precisely, we consider nested alterative subgraphs, linked alternative branches, multiple selection, caused and closed choices, and split choices. Secondly, we introduce non-renewable resources in the RCPSP-AS in order to implicitly avoid certain combinations of alternatives given a limited availability of this resource over the complete project horizon. We formulate both the basic RCPSP-AS and its extensions as an ILP model and solve it using Gurobi. The computational experiments are conducted on a large set of artificial project instances as well as three case studies. The results show the impact of the different extensions on the project makespan and the computational complexity. We observe that combinations of the proposed extensions might imply complex alternative project structures, resulting in an increasing computational complexity or even infeasible solutions. The analysis of the three case studies shows that it is hard to find feasible solutions with a small time limit or optimal solutions with a larger time limit for projects with a realistic size in terms of the number of activities or alternatives.

2022

First-mile logistics parcel pickup: Vehicle routing with packing constraints under disruption

Authors
Gimenez Palacios, I; Parreno, F; Alvarez Valdes, R; Paquay, C; Oliveira, BB; Carravilla, MA; Olivera, JF;

Publication
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW

Abstract
First-mile logistics tackles the movement of products from retailers to a warehouse or distri-bution centre. This first step towards the end customer has been pushed by large e-commerce platforms forming extensive networks of partners and is critical for fast deliveries. First-mile pickup requires efficient methods different from those developed for last-mile delivery, among other reasons due to the complexity of cargo features and volume - increasing the relevance of advanced packing methods. More importantly, the problem is essentially dynamic and the pickup process, in which the vehicle is initially empty, is much more flexible to react to disruptions arising when the vehicles are en route. We model the static first-mile pickup problem as a vehicle routing problem for a hetero-geneous fleet, with time windows and three-dimensional packing constraints. Moreover, we propose an approach to tackle the dynamic problem, in which the routes can be modified to accommodate disruptions - new customers' demands and modified requests of known customers that are arriving while the initially established routes are being covered. We propose three reactive strategies for addressing the disruptions depending on the number of vehicles available, and study their results on a newly generated benchmark for dynamic problems. The results allow quantifying the impact of disruptions depending on the strategy used and can help the logistics companies to define their own strategy, considering the characteristics of their customers and products and the available fleet.

2022

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) adoption: a systematic literature review

Authors
da Silva Costa, DA; Mamede, HS; da Silva, MM;

Publication
Engineering Management in Production and Services

Abstract
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a recent technology that has recently become increasingly adopted by companies as a solution for employees to focus on higher complexity and more valuable tasks while delegating routine, monotonous and rule-based tasks to their digital colleagues. The increased interest, reflected in the increasing number of articles regarding approaches and test cases, has triggered the necessity for a summary that could extract the more generalisable ideas and concepts about these software robots. This paper used a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach to find and synthesise information from articles obtained on this subject. This research identified the most general implementation approaches of successful RPA adoption cases, observed benefits, challenges commonly faced by organisations, characteristics that make processes more suitable for RPA, and research gaps in the current literature. The findings presented in this paper have two purposes. The first is to provide a way for companies and organisations to become more familiar with good practices regarding the adoption of robotic process automation. The second is to foster further research on the subject by complementing the current knowledge and proposing new paths for research. © 2022 D. A. da Silva Costa et al.

2022

EDUCATIONAL ESCAPE ROOMS ACTIVITIES TO FACILITATE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND IMPROVE TEACHING, LEARNING, AND ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

Authors
Sousa, D; Coelho, A; Torres, M;

Publication
EDULEARN22 Proceedings

Abstract

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