Abstract

Abstract
E-commerce notably increases the reach of enterprises, bringing a firm's products and services into the international arena. In times of shrinking domestic markets, due to national crises, becoming available in global markets is essential for survival and growth. We have thus held three focus group interactions to produce a set of strategic recommendations with regards to how to improve e-Commerce adoption levels in Iberian enterprises, essential in times of local hardship and market contraction. Suggestions include creating actions to influence governments to re-evaluate the legislation that regulates e-Commerce, making it more transparent; encouraging venture capitalists, banks and business angels to finance such e-Commerce endeavors; encouraging higher education institutions (HEI) to partner with Iberian enterprises to ensure knowledge transfer in both directions; creating, with HEI and training organizations, a set of new training courses directed at Iberian enterprises and focusing on concepts such as Web 2.0 capabilities and a coherent online organizational identity. Fundamental is the perspective that e-Commerce is a strategic issue, warranting funds and qualified personnel, at different levels in the hierarchy, for adequate strategic e intent, e-vision, and e-mission formulation, followed by effective e-process implementation.

Abstract
In similar conditions of food handling and genetics, there are large differences in the final productivity of farms, resulting from inherent factors of the production system. This fact predisposes the need of studies on optimizing the rearing conditions of the farms, in order to verify the main limitations for the producers. Therefore, the present study aims to generate predictions of the swine productivity in the finishing phase, using variables related to their profiles and the production results achieved. 107 farmers belonging to a swine cooperative were considered in the study, located in 47 counties at the Taquari valley region, Brazil. Predictions were generated through the aid of neural networks, and the findings show that Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) can predict the productivity variables Feed Conversion, Mortality and Average Daily Gain for the proposed case. © 2016 Brazilian Operations Research Society.

Abstract
The Assembly Line Part Feeding Problem (ALPFP) is a complex combinatorial optimisation problem concerned with the delivery of the required parts to the assembly workstations in the right quantities at the right time. Solving the ALPFP includes simultaneously solving two sub-problems, namely tour scheduling and tow-train loading. In this article, we first define the problem and formulate it as a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model. Then, we carry out a complexity analysis, proving the ALPFP to be NP-complete. A modified particle swarm optimisation (MPSO) algorithm incorporating mutation as part of the position updating scheme is subsequently proposed. The MPSO is capable of finding very good solutions with small time requirements. Computational results are reported, demonstrating the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed MPSO.

Abstract
The knowledge on diet composition of the freshwater mussel Diplodon enno (Ortmann) would aid in its culture and propagation allowing, this way, the replacement of natural endangered populations in Brazil. Microalgae are the main food source for captive mussels and unionids have displayed an ability to sort algae based on the cellular characteristics prior to ingestion. The main objective of the present work is to analyze the phytoplankton composition of the water from and of the gastrointestinal contents of the mussel D. enno, as an initial step for development of a suitable rearing diet. Therefore, water samples and bivalve specimens were collected from S. Francisco River, city of Paulo Afonso, Bahia, Brazil. The microalgal composition found in water and stomach/gut content samples was very diverse being represented by the following divisions: Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Dinophyta and Heterokontophyta (Diatoms). Concerning the relative abundance of microalgae divisions, it is possible to state, for the water and gastrointestinal contents, that Cyanophyta represents 15% and 14%, Chlorophyta 54% in both, Heterokontophyta 31% and 27% and Dinophyta 0% and 5%, respectively. According to the Brazilian CETESB criteria for phytoplankton species classification, 50% of Cyanophyta and 15% of Chlorophyta species observed in the water samples were classified as "very frequent", as were 68% of Heterokontophyta and 33% of Chlorophyta species in the gut/stomach tract samples. Focusing at a species level, although in the water only Coelastrum sp. and Chroococcus sp. were observed in 100% and 75% of the samples, respectively, in the gastrointestinal tract the species Staurastrum sp., Aulacoseira sp., Scenedesmus sp. and Fragilaria crotonensis occurred in 80% to 100% of the samples. The present results showed that D. enno feeds not only on small chlorophytes microalgae, due to their convenient size that facilitates higher feeding rates, but also on large size diatoms, due to a possible nutritional advantage for the bivalves. Thus, a diet composed by large diatoms and small chlorophytes microalgae may be considered as the most reasonable for the maintenance of D. enno populations.

Abstract
Use case driven development methodologies put use cases at the center of the software development process. However, in order to support automated development and analysis, use cases need to be appropriately formalized. This will also help guarantee consistency between requirements specifications and developed solutions. Formal methods tend to suffer from take up issues, as they are usually hard to accept by industry. In this context, it is relevant not only to produce languages and approaches to support formalization, but also to perform their validation. In previous works we have developed an approach to formalize use cases resorting to ontologies. In this paper we present the validation of one such approach. Through a three stage study, we evaluate the acceptance of the language and supporting tool. The first stage focusses on the acceptance of the process and language, the second on the support the tool provides to the process, and finally the third one on the tool's usability aspects. Results show test subjects found the approach feasible and useful and the tool easy to use.