Abstract
This paper presents two new solution approaches capable of finding optimal solutions for the thermal unit commitment problem in power generation planning. The approaches explore the concept of "matheuristics", a term usually used to refer to an optimization algorithm that hybridizes (meta)heuristics with mixed integer programming solvers, in order to speed up convergence to optimality for large scale instances. Two algorithms are proposed: "local branching", and an hybridization of particle swarm optimization with a mixed integer programming solver. From extensive computational tests on a broad set of benchmarks, the algorithms were found to be able to solve large instances. Optimal solutions were obtained for several well-known situations with dramatic reductions in CPU time for the larger cases, when compared to previously proposed exact methods.

Abstract
The kidney exchange problem (KEP) is an optimization problem arising in the framework of transplant programs that allow exchange of kidneys between two or more incompatible patient-donor pairs. In this paper an approach based on a new decomposition model and branch-and-price is proposed to solve large KEP instances. The optimization problem considers, hierarchically, the maximization of the number of transplants and the minimization of the size of exchange cycles. Computational comparison of different variants of branch-and-price for the standard and the proposed objective functions are presented. The results show the efficiency of the proposed approach for solving large instances.

Abstract

Abstract
Within collaborative networks, information sharing and knowledge creation are the main drives for value creation, wherever collaborative spaces (CS) has been used as the means to enable collaboration among the different social actors involved. Despite of technological availability, CS still a challenge in practice, mainly due to the lack of methods to support its development and to its tight coupling with the collaboration model adopted by the network. Thus, the main focus of this paper in on enhancing information sharing through the design of what we call agnostic collaborative spaces (ACS), supported by linked data approaches. Beyond this new perspective over CS, it is discussed a technological solution through which ACS are implemented.

Abstract
Real estate appraisal is a very important activity in the modern economies. As such, the main ob-jective of this paper is to analyse the relationship between yields and income rents in assessing the Portu-guese real estate appraisal on the main Portuguese municipalities. Real estate market data series were analised during a four-year period (2006-2009) using income rents in €/m2. With the data it was possible to determine the average income rents and the capitalization rates, and carry out a comparison through a clusters analysis. The results show that the income approach can be used to explain the supply market va-lue of the dwellings at municipal level.

Abstract
Innovation plays a very important role in businesses competitiveness. As Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) stem for more than 95 % of the industrial fabric in the developed world, the improvement of the industrial production or the provision of a service are key to increase their productivity and competitiveness. The Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is a Japanese process-based innovative methodology that involves the separation and conversion of internal setup operations into external ones. The SMED makes it possible for firms to reduce their lead times and to eliminate wastefulness during changeover activities. Although organizational innovation is a very important tool, it plays a silent role in productivity improvement, as it is less tangible than product or process innovation. Moreover, studies about SMED implementation and how teams have managed to achieve their results are still very limited among SMEs. The main objective of this chapter is to provide the results of seven projects involving business-university partnerships addressing this understudied topic: SMED implementation and organizational innovation in SMEs. The main finding of this study is that all firms managed to improve their setup times, although the results vary extensively. From the organizational innovation point of view, only one firm failed to intertwine the initiation and the implementation stages. Although all firms have initiation-implementation routines, there are clear differences among them. As a result, although it is possible to claim that all SMEs analyzed are ambidextrous organizations, their initiation-implementation routines, deserve deeper comprehension. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. All rights are reserved.