Cookies Policy
The website need some cookies and similar means to function. If you permit us, we will use those means to collect data on your visits for aggregated statistics to improve our service. Find out More
Accept Reject
  • Menu
Publications

Publications by LIAAD

2021

Scale for the Environments Evaluation of Professional Nursing Practice: Construct validation

Authors
Ribeiro, OMPL; Vicente, CMFD; Sousa, CN; Teles, PJFC; Trindade, LD; Martins, MMFPD; Cardoso, MFPT;

Publication
JOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT

Abstract
Aim Testing the validity and reliability of the Scale for the Environments Evaluation of Professional Nursing Practice (SEE-Nursing Practice). Background The environment of professional nursing practice is key to achieve better results for clients, nurses and institutions. Therefore, instruments enabling the assessment of all its attributes are required. Method Cross-sectional methodological study. The SEE-Nursing Practice, based on a previous qualitative study and literature review, was applied as a questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess construct validity. Results A total of 752 nurses participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis of the SEE-Nursing Practice led to a factor solution with 93 items and three subscales. The Structure, Process and Outcome subscales, respectively, have 43, 37 and 13 items, loaded in 6 factors, 6 factors and 2 factors and explaining 62.6%, 59.2% and 67.4% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha of the overall scale and of the 3 subscales was greater than 0.90. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit. Conclusion SEE-Nursing Practice is a good valid and reliable instrument. Implications for nursing management The SEE-Nursing Practice enables assessing practice environments and is a tool for nursing managers in the definition of strategies ensuring favourable environments for nursing care quality.

2021

Validation of the scale of assessment of self-care behaviours for arteriovenous fistula in patients ongoing haemodialysis in Turkey

Authors
Ikiz, SN; Usta, YY; Sousa, CN; Teles, P; Dias, VFF; Magalhaes, ALP; Lins, SMDB; Ribeiro, OMPL;

Publication
JOURNAL OF RENAL CARE

Abstract
Background: Several guidelines recommend that patients with chronic kidney disease treated by haemodialysis (HD) take care of their own arteriovenous fistula (AVF). The dialysis nurse plays an important role in the development of such self-care behaviours. A very small number of instruments are available to assess self-care behaviours with AVF in Turkey. Objective: Cultural adaptation and psychometric testing of the Turkish version of the scale of assessment of self-care behaviours with arteriovenous fistula in haemodialysis (ASBHD-AVF) patients. Design: Cross-sectional validation study. Participants and Measurements: This study was conducted involving 160 patients in the Bolu region in Turkey. The guidelines provided by Sousa and Rojjanasrirat were taken into account in the scale translation, adaptation and validation process. Validity was analysed through content validity and construct validity. The latter was measured through principal component analysis with varimax rotation, considering only factor loadings of 0.30 or larger. Reliability analysis was based on internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha. Results: A two-factor structure was extracted explaining 59.01% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha was 0.91, 0.85 and 0.84 for the overall scale, the self-care in prevention of complications subscale and the self-care in management of signs and symptoms subscale, respectively. Conclusions: The Turkish version of the scale of ASBHD-AVF patients is a reliable and valid instrument and can therefore be used.

2021

Wind Farm Cable Connection Layout Optimization with Several Substations

Authors
Cerveira, A; Pires, EJS; Baptista, J;

Publication
ENERGIES

Abstract
Green energy has become a media issue due to climate changes, and consequently, the population has become more aware of pollution. Wind farms are an essential energy production alternative to fossil energy. The incentive to produce wind energy was a government policy some decades ago to decrease carbon emissions. In recent decades, wind farms were formed by a substation and a couple of turbines. Nowadays, wind farms are designed with hundreds of turbines requiring more than one substation. This paper formulates an integer linear programming model to design wind farms' cable layout with several turbines. The proposed model obtains the optimal solution considering different cable types, infrastructure costs, and energy losses. An additional constraint was considered to limit the number of cables that cross a walkway, i.e., the number of connections between a set of wind turbines and the remaining wind farm. Furthermore, considering a discrete set of possible turbine locations, the model allows identifying those that should be present in the optimal solution, thereby addressing the optimal location of the substation(s) in the wind farm. The paper illustrates solutions and the associated costs of two wind farms, with up to 102 turbines and three substations in the optimal solution, selected among sixteen possible places. The optimal solutions are obtained in a short time.

2021

The influence of labour costs on the sustainability of douro wine farms: An application of ABM [Influência do preço da mão de obra na sustentabilidade das explorações vitícolas durienses: Uma aplicação de modelos baseados em agentes]

Authors
Matias, J; Cerveira, A; Santos, C; Marta Costa, AA;

Publication
Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural

Abstract
In Portugal, labour availability has been revealed as a key factor for the activity, particularly in mountain viticulture. The latest statistics present worrying values that could undermine the production of quality wine and the attractive set of wine landscapes considered as a potential resource for tourism development. The Douro Region is one of the main Portuguese wine regions, characterized by a prominent and accentuated mountain viticulture. This paper aims to simulate the behaviour of its farms about the changes in the price of labour, through Agent-Based Models (ABM). The MATLAB software was used to obtain periodic functions adjusted to the data that characterize the relevant variables, obtained from face-to-face surveys of 110 farms, and taking into account the data provided by PTFADN. Subsequently, the ABM software (NETLOGO) was selected to simulate the next 100 years, familiarizing the real dynamics based on the previously considered data. Depending on the price of labour at the end of the simulation horizon, with a grape price of 0,77 €/kg, from the 300 initially existing farms survive between 127 and 231 (42,3 - 77%). In a more optimistic scenario, with a grape price of 1,17 €/kg, the survival rate ranges between 72.1 and 93.2%. © 2021

2021

Optimization of Wind Turbines Placement in Offshore Wind Farms: Wake Effects Concerns

Authors
Baptista J.; Lima F.; Cerveira A.;

Publication
Communications in Computer and Information Science

Abstract
In the coming years, many countries are going to bet on the exploitation of offshore wind energy. This is the case of southern European countries, where there is great wind potential for offshore exploitation. Although the conditions for energy production are more advantageous, all the costs involved are substantially higher when compared to onshore. It is, therefore, crucial to maximize system efficiency. In this paper, an optimization model based on a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model is proposed to find the best wind turbines location in offshore wind farms taking into account the wake effect. A case study, concerning the design of an offshore wind farm, were carried out and several performance indicators were calculated and compared. The results show that the placement of the wind turbines diagonally presents better results for all performance indicators and corresponds to a lower percentage of energy production losses.

2021

Enhancing engineering students' project management skills in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic: an online project-based learning experience

Authors
Cruz, G; Dominguez, C; Cerveira, A;

Publication
2021 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE PORTUGUESE SOCIETY FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION (CISPEE)

Abstract
Teaching project management and industrial optimization to engineering students requires real-world experiences in which they can explicitly integrate, apply and develop work-ready skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. This paper presents an exploratory case study research describing an online Project-based Learning (PjBL) experience aimed at tackling the challenge of decreasing the ecological footprint in the university campus generated by the local locomotion of students from university-home and/or home-university. The experience was implemented from February to June 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 9 participating students enrolled in the 'Industrial Management I' course, part of the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal. We firstly describe the course in terms of the key driving question, the learning goals, the educational activities, the collaboration among students, the scaffolding technologies, and the tangible artefacts produced. We further discuss the preliminary results of the study by taking into account the main tangible learning artefact produced by the students - a carpooling model proposal for the UTAD student community - as well as the data collected from a post, self-completion questionnaire on students' perceptions about the PjBL experience. Finally, we outline implications for the teaching practice and some concerns that need to be addressed in future course editions.

  • 130
  • 497