Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing | PhD Alumni

Thesis Title: Multi-disciplinary design optimization of curvilinear fiber composites

PhD Supervisors: Afzal Suleman (IST-UL)

Thesis Topic: The objective of work is to develop a multidisciplinary design framework of curvilinear fiber composites as Variable Stiffness Composite Laminates to increase structural performance (such as buckling and fatigue) and, to reduce cost and manufacturing risk with considering manufacturability. The inherent manufacturing risks are associated with gaps and overlaps producing in manufacturing process. The manufacturability of composite consists of continuity of fiber path and curvature of paths. In terms of cost modeling, a comprehensive cost model is modeled including material, cycle time of manufacturing process, labor and lifetime of product. Finally, A decision tree will be modeled as decision support tool to review the possible scenarios to ease judge for decision maker with having a set of optimal designs from the Pareto frontier.

xanasepulveda@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Technologies for Flexible Sensors in the Design of a Smart Stent Graft

asilva@dei.uminho.pt | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: Automotive Smart Flooring based in Photonics

Publications: L.M. Goncalves, A. Ferreira da Silva, H.R. Silva, Rui Rocha, C. Couto, P. Alpuim, J.H. Correia “Thermoelectric Micro Converters for Cooling and Energy Scavenging Systems”, University of Minho, 2007

N. S. Dias, A. Ferreira da Silva, A. van Ooyen, P. M. Mendes, C. M. Marques, J. A. Afonso, W. Mokwa, U. Schnakenberg, J. H. Correia: “Study on Pulsed DC-Sputtering of Iridium Oxide for Implantable Electrodes”, Dept. Industrial Electronics-University of Minho, IWE1-RWTH Aachen University, 2007

Research interests: Micromachining and microfabrication technology; Biomedical devices

Other interests: Health care management

alvaro.martinez@metalsa.com.mx | IST | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2010 | Graduation year: 2017

Thesis Title: Methodology for the Architecting of Time Dependent Complex Manufacturing Systems – An Engineering System Approach

Supervisors: Arlindo Silva (IST-UL), Elsa Henriques (IST-UL), Jorge Lino (FEUP), Juan Villarreal (Metalsa)

Thesis Abstract: The architecting of manufacturing systems is studied through the lens of the “engineering systems”, this research proposes a “holistic system architecting methodology (HSAM)” base on a systematic analysis and synthesis research methods (AD,Cladistics, DCC, DSM) oriented to manage the complexity associated with the design of changeable and evolvable assembly systems; the requirements from automotive industry demand a HASM able to guide the early design process to meet not only the short term demands for productivity and functionalities (cost, quality and efficiency) but also to provide the system with the required long term properties (“ilities”) in order to react to market externalities such as new product materials, wider product variety, fluctuations in demand and global production footprint; the proposed methodology is currently being validated through several case studies.

anaeduardasilva@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2014

Thesis Title: Automatic quality control system based on artificial vision: transferring human knowledge into an automated inspection system

Thesis Title: Improved methodologies for the design of extrusion forming tools

PhD Supervisors Olga Carneiro (UMinho), João Miguel Nóbrega (UMinho), Zeljko Tukovic (University of zagreb)

Thesis Topic:Thermoplastic profiles being more attractive due to their inherent design freedom. However, the usual methodologies employed to design extrusion forming tools, based on experimental based trial–and–error procedures, are highly dependent on the designer’s experience and lead to high resources consumption. These difficulties are even more evident when a complex geometry profile has to be produced and there is no previous experience with similar geometries. Therefore, novel design approaches are required, in order to reduce the required resources and guarantee a good performance for the produced profile. The numerical developments of the improved design approach will be made in the framework of an open source computational library OpenFOAM® (Open source Field Operation and Manipulation).

Thesis Title: Development of lightweight and cost-efficient exterior automotive body panels for electric vehicles

PhD Supervisors: João Nunes (UMinho), Fernando Alves (INEGI)

Thesis Topic: Current electric vehicles still present low autonomy as major disadvantage, which with high car prices lead to a low public demand and consequently to small production volumes. A problem that may be solved through several improvements, among them, the reduction of vehicle´s weight by using low density materials and cost-efficient manufacturing processes.

Relatively to the exterior body panels, polymer-metal hybrid (PMH) configurations with polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) arise as a relevant solution for both weight and cost reduction, contradicting those conventional configurations with high manufacturing costs.

Thus, this research aims to develop and measure in terms of economic and physical attributes some exterior automotive body panels with the
previously mentioned PMH configuration, in order to answer to how light and cost-efficient are them to be applied in future electric vehicles.

andre@andredias.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/ area: Assessment and Development of Integrated Systems for electric vehicles

aisaraujo30@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis Title: Protein-based polyurethanes

PhD Supervisor: Ana Vera Machado (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: Polyurethanes (PU) are one of the most pervasive engineering plastics in our society, finding widespread applications. However, besides being petroleum based, one of the monomers for the PU production is highly toxic. This work aims to take existing efforts on renewable PU in a new direction, engineering hard blocks from protein biomass. A major scientific challenge is the high chemical diversity of the denatured crude protein, making control over the reactive pathway more difficult. The produced materials, in the form of coatings and bulk plastics, will be analyzed using a full range of thermal, chemical and mechanical characterization techniques.

Publications:

• Oliveira, M., Santos, E., Araújo, A., Fechine, G. J. M., Machado, A. V, & Botelho, G. (2016). The role of shear and stabilizer on PLA degradation. Polymer Testing, 51, 109–116. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2016.03.005
• Araújo, A., Botelho, G., Oliveira, M., & Machado, A. V. (2014). Influence of clay organic modifier on the thermal-stability of PLA based nanocomposites. Applied Clay Science, 88–89, 144–150. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2013.12.005
• Araújo, A., Oliveira, M., Oliveira, R., Botelho, G., & Machado, A. V. (2014). Biodegradation assessment of PLA and its nanocomposites. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 21(16), 9477–9486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2256-y
• Araújo, A., Botelho, G., Silva, M., & Machado, A. V. (2013). UV stability of poly (lactic acid) nanocomposites.

a.sabaleuski@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

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Current Position: Senior Associate – Strategy & Operations consulting at PwC Polska

Previous Position: Senior Research Analyst – Travel Transport & Logistics at McKinsey & Company

Thesis Title: Product architecture and technology selection in competitive business-to-business environment

Thesis Topic: Dissertation examines how competitive interactions influence the technological choices of SMEs. The results are published at 5 International conferences on Technology Management, Engineering Management, Decision Making and Systems Engineering

Publications:

• Sabaleuski, A., Pires, F. M. A., & Camanho, P. P. (2013). Product Architecture and Technology Selection in Dynamic Business Environment, I, 3–8.

bruna.mota@tecnico.ulisboa.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2012 | Graduation year: 2017

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Supervisor: Ana Póvoa (IST/UL); Co-supervisor: Maria Isabel Gomes (FCT/UNL)

Thesis Topic: Costumers and governments are pressuring companies to become more sustainable. However, the lack of research on how to incorporate and address these issues makes this a challenging task. This work aims to be a step forward into filling this gap and it is intended to do so in the following ways:

• By contributing to the literature through the development of a decision support tool for the design and planning of closed-loop supply chains, based on multiobjective mathematical programming modelling. This contribution will arise in two ways. One is the development of a sustainable supply chain design and planning model with characteristics not yet addressed (e.g. sustainability itself, technology selection, intermodal transportation) or not simultaneously addressed in the literature. The other is the development of environmental and social indicators suitable for supply chain strategic decisions. While environmental assessment in supply chains has been showing some growth in the literature, few to none research exists in quantitatively assessing the social impact of supply chains in the context of design and planning.
• By contributing with managerial insights for companies to be able to adjust or act proactively in light of already existing or potential sustainability policies.
• By contributing to sustainable policy evaluation and definition by applying the developed methodology to real case-studies.

Publications:

Research papers

• Mota, B, Gomes, M.I, Carvalho, A, Barbosa-Póvoa, A.P, “Towards supply chain sustainability: economic, environmental and social design and planning”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.07.052

Book chapters

• Mota, B, Carvalho, A, Gomes, M.I, Barbosa-Póvoa, A.P, Design and Planning of Sustainable Supply Chains in Sustainability of Products, Processes and Supply Chains: Theory and Applications, Volume 36 of Computer Aided Engineering, 2015, In Press

Conference proceedings

• Mota, B, Gomes, M.I, Barbosa-Póvoa, A.P, “Supply Chain Design towards sustainability: accounting for growth and jobs”, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design – FOCAPD 2014, Washington, USA, July 13-17, 2014, In Press
• Mota, B, Gomes, M.I, Carvalho, A, Barbosa-Póvoa, A.P, “The influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on economic performance within supply chain planning”, CMS 2014, 11th International Conference on Computational Management Science, Lisbon, In Press
• Mota, B, Gomes, M.I, Barbosa-Póvoa, A.P, “Towards supply chain sustainability: balancing costs with environmental and social impacts.” In Computer Aided Process Engineering, 895-900. Elsevier, 2013.

Thesis Title: The use of advanced technologies on lifecycle assessment of infrastructures

PhD Supervisors: Paulo Lourenço (UMinho), José Matos (UMinho)

Thesis Topics: The PhD has 3 main phases/objectives: 1st – development of a mobile platform to streamline field inspections and infrastructures assessment; 2nd – development of infrastructure degradation/failure Markov-based prediction model for a stock of infrastructures; 3rd – integrate previous objectives and apply optimization methods to generate the best management strategy.

bruno.simoes.soares@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico

Previous Position: Deputy CTO at Secomil

Research topic/area: Design for X: Cork as a Suitable Material for Environment and its Implications in Performance

Thesis Title: An integrated approach to composite engineering design considering economic, environmental and mechanical inputs

PhD Supervisor: Luís Filipe Galrão dos Reis

pepe.carla@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: Lean Design in Product Development

Thesis Discussion A Framework to Analyse and Improve Engineering Processes on September, 11th, 2013.

Publications:

• Pepe, C., E. Henriques, et al. (2008). Lean Principles in Product Development. RPD 2008 – Rapid Product Development, Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal.
• Pepe, C., D. Whitney, et al. (2010). Engineering Process Improvement Using Value Stream Mapping and Design Structure Matrix Tools. First International Conference on Modelling and Management of Engineering Processes. Cambridge, UK: 101-112.
• Pepe, C., D. Whitney, et al. (2011). Development of a Framework for Improving Engineering Processes. International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED11. DTU, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Carla Pepe was a invited speaker for the Engineering for Better Jobs Conference in Lisbon in 2009; was awarded with the best EDAM poster prize in the first E3 Forum (2011); and has been nominated by Rolls-Royce for the Wise Excellence Award – early career

carlosgoncalves37@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

Research Area: Wearable Ubiquitous Computing System for Physiological Assistance

nnunext@hotmail.com | cbnuno@dep.uminho.pt | UMinho | Leaders for Technical Industries PhD | Entering Year: 2011

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Research topic/area: Integration of Engineering, Manufacturing and Economic Issues in Design against Impact of Polymer Automotive Component

Research summary: The aim of this work lies on the development of an integrated approach that takes into account technical (or functional) and economic issues of injection molding plastic parts in order to support designers/engineers/analysts to decide faster and accurately (earlier on the product development process) among several design concept alternatives considering the main engineering aspects: manufacturing costs and functional performance (e.g. improved impact response). A combination of CAE analyses (injection molding flow simulations and structural analysis) enables the calculation of local mechanical properties, improving the mechanical performance prediction capabilities. In this way, engineering know-how in the form of design guidelines can be established relatively faster and more cost-effectively.

Publications:

C.N. Barbosa, J.C. Viana, M. Franzen, R. Simoes. “Effect of the impact conditions on the mechanical properties of injection-molded parts”. Polymer Engineering & Science, 52, 9, 1845-1853, 2012. DOI 10.1002/pen.23135

C.N. Barbosa, R. Simoes, M. Franzen, J.C. Viana. “Thermomechanical environment characterisation in injection moulding and its relation to the mechanical properties of talc-filled polypropylene”. Journal of Material Science, 48, 6, 2597-2607, 2013. DOI 10.1007/s10853-012-7052-4

cteixeira@dei.uminho.pt | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis Title: Carbon Nanotubes – From material to devices

PhD Supervisor: Luís Rocha (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: From time to time, new materials or processes emerge and lead to disruptive development cycles in terms of technology evolution. Over the last years, Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have been highlighted as the nanostructures that are almost performing the bridge between the materials and the devices. Still, it is not yet possible to find many devices able to take full advantage of the CNTs’ properties, mainly at mechanical, thermal and electric level. This research work intends to evaluate this bridge between CNTs as a material and CNTs-based devices through the production of a CNT-based functional transducer and its evaluation from an engineering systems perspective.

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Thesis Title: Multi-dimensional performance assessment in complex manufacturing environments

PhD Supervisor: Américo Azevedo (FEUP/INESCTEC)

claudia.s.r.duarte@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Thesis Title (2014): Single Line for Assembly Just-In-Sequence Multiple Models

Cláudia Duarte has successfully discussed her thesis with the following members of the Jury:

• António Cunha. Rector, University of Minho
• Ana Paula Ferreira Dias Barbos Póvoa, Técnico Lisboa, ULisboa
• José Manuel Vasconcelos Valério de Carvalho, School of Engineering, UMinho
• José Fernando da Costa Oliveira, Faculdade de Engenharia, UPorto
• José Fernando Gonçalves, Faculdade de Economia, UPorto
• Filipe Pereira Pinto da Cunha Alvelos, School of Engineering, UMinho
• Fernando Alberto Correia Mendo Ferreira Pinto Basto, Volkswagen Autoeuropa, Lda.

claudiosantos3@yahoo.com.br | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

danielf.o.braga@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis Title: Innovative structural connections for lightweight structural design

PhD Supervisor: Pedro Miguel Guimarães Pires Moreira (FEUP)

Thesis Topic: The ultimate aim of this thesis is the development of a joining technique using both adhesive bonding and friction stir welding. These joints would have good static and fatigue properties, and would be applicable in a large array of structure types (aircrafts primary and secondary structures, automotive structures, etc.). The use of these joints would allow more flexible structural design, lightweighting and high performance. A long with this goal this thesis also aims at instrumenting the developed joints for structural health monitoring.To fulfil these goals the following objectives have to be accomplished:

• Development of a fabrication methodology for hybrid friction stir weldbonded joints, including designing
• moulds and clamping systems, FSW tool geometries, procedures, etc.;
• Characterization of the adhesive mechanical properties;
• Selection of the correct process parameters for the fabrication of sound joints;
• Mechanical characterization of the hybrid joints, including static mechanical testing, metallographic
• analysis, and dynamic response properties assessment;
• Finite element simulation of the developed joints;
• Fatigue strength assessment of the developed joints;
• Comparison between the developed joints and adhesive bonded joints and friction stir welded joints,
• regarding all the studied properties;
• Implementation of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for structural monitoring;
• Strain monitoring using the embedded FBGs during manufacturing process.

It is expected that this thesis will be a significant contribution to the durability of lightweight stiffened structures, through the development and characterization of a novel joining technique, friction stir weldbonding. It is also foreseen that the implementation of sensing capabilities in the developed joints will improve the structural monitoring of safety critical structures. In order to achieve these aims, work and innovation in different but inter-related fields will be carried out:

• Fabrication methodology for friction stir weldbonded joints will be developed;
• Optimization through finite element analysis using a cohezive zone elements to model crack initiation
• and propagation, as well as an experimental programme based on the Taguchi method;
• Static mechanical testing will be performed, and the dynamic response of friction stir weldbonded joints
• characterized through frequency response functions (natural frequencies and damping ratios), will be
• measured;
• A new technique to insert FBG sensors during the adhesive bonding curing process will be developed.

Measurements will be performed during the joining process in order to analyse the residual stresses induced by the manufacturing process, which is a novel result in itself. Using the pre-installed fibres, monitoring of the joint during the testing programme will also be possible. The failure initiation moment will be analysed;

• Fatigue strength of the developed joints will be assessed through testing under constant amplitude loading;
• Structural health monitoring during the fatigue strength testing using the embedded FBGs.

deborahperrotta@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM TME Advanced Studies | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in Integrated and Global Management of Industrialization Projects at University of Minho

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Thesis Topic: Mechanical Component Standardization

duarte.dinis@ist.utl.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis title: Optimal Production Planning and Scheduling in an Aircraft Maintenance Context

PhD Supervisor: Ana Barbosa Póvoa (CEG-IST)

Thesis Topic: Task scheduling and resource allocation problems have been the subject of intense research over the past decades and several methodologies have been proposed to address them, particularly within the area of Operations Research. The proposed research project for the Leaders for Technical Industries PhD Program studies the aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) planning and scheduling problem with the goal of developing a decision-making support tool to aid the maintenance management process. The tool will be based on optimization methodologies, taking into account the uncertainty of the problem, and developed under a software design and development framework.

edsantos@dem.ist.utl.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007 | Graduation year: 2013

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Research topic/area: Eco-efficient Design and Advanced Manufacturing Practices, Systems Perspectives on Materials Technology Decision Making

Thesis Title: Mapping, Modelling and Improving the WEEE Treatment and Recovery: A Portuguese Case Study

Supervisor: Paulo Ferrão (IST)

Publications:

• Ferrão, P., Ribeiro, P., Santos, E., Luizio, M., 2007, “True contribute of a collective WEEE management infrastructure: The Portuguese case study”, Proceedings of 2007 Conference of International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE 2007)

• Ferrão, P., Ribeiro, P., Santos, E., 2007, “Producer Responsibility Organizations assuming producer responsibility for end-of-life products in Portugal”, Proceedings of 2007 Conference of International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE 2007)

elcincalado@gmail.com| IST | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2012 | Graduation year: 2017

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Thesis Title: Selection of composite materials considering cost and environmental impact in the early phases of aircraft design

PhD Supervisors: Arlindo Silva (IST-UL), Marco Leite (IST-UL)

Thesis Abstract: The objective of this research study is to create a material selection framework that will lead the designer to select the most suitable composite material for the aerospace applications based on the targets related to product performance, economic achievements and environmental impacts over a product’s life-cycle in a multi-disciplinary and multi-objective optimization scenario.

Thesis Title: A Methodology for Smart-Verifications of Coordinate Measuring Machines

PhD Supervisors: Alexandre Ferreira da Silva (UMinho), Arlindo Silva (IST-UL)

Thesis Topic: Nowadays, the globalization of economic activities has a progressive restructuring of business, tax and imposed the need to implement a set of cross-cutting strategies which privilege the dynamic factors of competitiveness, including internationalization, scientific research, innovation and development, quality certification, qualification of human resources, safety management, environmental management and energy efficiency.

An economy supported in scientific knowledge search in innovation and development processes a decisive support. As such, innovation in processes and technology, products, services and management is clearly a strong impulse to the economic development. Considering the decisive importance of the knowledge and innovation to the economy, and to the development of the technological processes, the main purpose of this work, in dimensional and geometrical metrology field, is develop a methodology and a standard artefact to evaluate the performance of coordinate measuring machines (CMM’s), of different manufacturers, existing in research institutions, accredited laboratories, industry laboratories, etc.

Although international standards such as ISO 9001:2008, ISO 10012:2003, ISO 10360-2:2009 or ISO/IEC 17025:2005 does not specify any type of methodology, but refer the importance and the need of carrying out intermediary verifications for conformity assessment of this type of equipment.

According to the direct support that the CMM provide to the quality control process of the dimensional and geometric characteristics of manufactured products, the development of this project intends to contribute to reduce the nonconformities caused by metrological tests performed with equipment’s out of specifications, and thus minimize the economic, social and environmental impact that the situations can generate for an organization and a society.

Thus, the main motivation for the development of this project is to contribute to the purpose known as the search for the “Zero Defects”, especially in the automotive industry (Matias, Oliveira & Coelho, 2011).

The purpose of the search for the “Zero Defects”, on one hand means that all individuals in the organization are committed to meet the requirements at first time, and on the other hand means that are implemented several tools to support the processes that actively seek to ensure there are no parts out of specifications, typical of the manufacturing processes, which after released in the market may lead to the occurrence of failures and potential major accidents.

Develop a methodology for implementation of conformity assessment tests for different types of CMM’s from different manufacturers, will be a complex task. In parallel, research, design and development of a standard artefact for execution of the tests will also be a major challenge In order to make the smart verifications tests a quick and intuitive task, and generator reliability.

f.nascimento@sapo.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current Position: Laboratory technician at ISQ, Portugal

Thesis Title: Smart Seat Design – An integrated approach for product development in automotive industry

Supervisor: Francisco Manuel Andrade Pires (FEUP)

dpsd00031@syros.aegean.gr | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2014

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Current position: Post Doc researcher at Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Thesis Title: A Green Composite as a Hood Part of a Buggy Vehicle

Supervisor: Arlindo Silva (IST-UL)

helena.fernandez@hotmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/ area: Wireless Communication Sensor Networks for Remote Health Monitoring ( RFID-Enabled and Visible Medical Devices )

Research interests: medical devices, wireless communications, digital signal processing

helena.silva@ceiia.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: Assessment and Development of Integrated Systems for electric vehicles

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Thesis Title: Integrating comfort in air-vents’ design

PhD Supervisors: António Ribeiro (IST-UL), Mihail Fontul (IBER-OLEFF)

Thesis Topic: Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are becoming more interested in the sense of brand and comfort perception of clients, as differentiation strategy. However, these issues are highly subjective and difficult to define, thus the comfort requirements provided to suppliers are generally ill-defined. OEM suppliers usually perform several iterations in a trial and error base, before the approval of the final prototype. The main objective of this project is to develop a methodology to assist OEM suppliers in product development projects, leading to a higher rate of design project success and less iterations. This will be attained by creating a model of comfort, which will correlate the physical performance of the product under development with the perception of the user.

Publications:

• Tim W.G.M. Spitters, Jeroen C.H. Leijten, Filipe D. Deus, Ines B.F. Costa, Aart A. van Apeldoorn, Clemens A. van Blitterswijk, and Marcel Karperien. Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. April 2013, 19(10): 774-783.https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tec.2012.0435
• Catarina Brito, Daniel Simão, Inês Costa, Rita Malpique, Cristina I. Pereira, Paulo Fernandes, Margarida Serra, Sigrid C. Schwarz, Johannes Schwarz, Eric J. Kremer, Paula M. Alves, Generation and genetic modification of 3D cultures of human dopaminergic neurons derived from neural progenitor cells, Methods, Volume 56, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 452-460, ISSN 1046-2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2012.03.005.

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Thesis Title: Integrating comfort in air-vents’ design

PhD Supervisors: António Ribeiro (IST-UL), Mihail Fontul (IBER-OLEFF)

Thesis Topic: Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are becoming more interested in the sense of brand and comfort perception of clients, as differentiation strategy. However, these issues are highly subjective and difficult to define, thus the comfort requirements provided to suppliers are generally ill-defined. OEM suppliers usually perform several iterations in a trial and error base, before the approval of the final prototype. The main objective of this project is to develop a methodology to assist OEM suppliers in product development projects, leading to a higher rate of design project success and less iterations. This will be attained by creating a model of comfort, which will correlate the physical performance of the product under development with the perception of the user.

Publications:

• Tim W.G.M. Spitters, Jeroen C.H. Leijten, Filipe D. Deus, Ines B.F. Costa, Aart A. van Apeldoorn, Clemens A. van Blitterswijk, and Marcel Karperien. Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. April 2013, 19(10): 774-783.https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tec.2012.0435
• Catarina Brito, Daniel Simão, Inês Costa, Rita Malpique, Cristina I. Pereira, Paulo Fernandes, Margarida Serra, Sigrid C. Schwarz, Johannes Schwarz, Eric J. Kremer, Paula M. Alves, Generation and genetic modification of 3D cultures of human dopaminergic neurons derived from neural progenitor cells, Methods, Volume 56, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 452-460, ISSN 1046-2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2012.03.005.

ines.ribeiro@ist.utl.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/area: From Tooling Design to Tools Life Cycle Design: Shifting the Paradigm

dpsd00040@aegean.gr | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current position: Upstream Technologies Research Engineer at BIC

Research topic/ area: HMI on Sensivity Functions Approach: Case of Non-Visual Senses

Supervisors: Mihail Fontul (IST); Elsa Henriques (IST)

carvalho_irene@hotmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2017

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Current Position: Team Leader | Product Development at Viseon Corporation

Thesis Title: New Opportunities In Passenger Cars Design For Improved Efficiency Of Energy Use – An Engineering Systems Approach

PhD Supervisors: Arlindo Silva (IST-UL), Ricardo Simões (UMinho)

Research topic/area: Vehicles Reconfiguration: Enabling Fuel and CO₂ emissions savings Through Modular Vehicle Designs

Research summary: Fuel consumption relates roughly linearly with CO₂ emissions, travel demand (persons∙km) and transport demand (kg∙km). Given these dependencies, we conjecture about the convenience of a reconfigurable vehicle, enabled through modularity, to allow maximizing the vehicle’s load factor, on a per usage basis. The effect is that the coefficient correlating the fuel consumption with the travel demand and the transport demand varies according to the number of persons to be transported instead of being fixed according to the vehicle’s weight. This way, the impact of the mass of the vehicle regarding the fuel consumptions is shifted to lower levels.

Publications:

• Carvalho, I., Baier, T., Simoes, R., Silva A. (2012) Fuel Economy Through Modular Vehicle Architectures, Applied Energy, 93, 556-563

isa.santos@fe.up.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Design of a Smart Stent Graft

Links: SenseCardioHealth’s Blog

ivotomar@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

PhD Supervisor: Paulo Jorge Soares Gil

Enhancing the conceptual design phase of complex engineering systems with an integrated methodology and support tools

IST | Leaders for Technical Industries PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2016

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Research topic/ area: Standardization of components and product development in multi-project organisation

Summary: Standardized and common components are recognized as a means of meeting changing customer needs within reasonable cost and time parameters.This research develops a logical and efficient methodology for finding parts and concepts in large databases, and analyzing them from commonality perspective. Identified parts represent commonality opportunities and standard solutions for use among varying product portfolios. Two industrial implementation examples are presented to illustrate the feasibility and potential of the proposed methodology.This research improves the current state of part commonality nominations. An efficient method of choosing parts for commonality studies has a high impact on future academic investigations and practitioner applications.

Supervisors: Virginia Infante (IST-UL), Manuel Freitas (IST-UL

Thesis Title: Searching for standardization and commonality opportunities in industrial product portfolios

jlouployer@gmail.com | IST | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2010 | Graduation year: 2014

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Current position: Data Scientist at L´Oréal

Thesis Title: Big Data-inspired statistical modeling of lifecycle cost to support financial evaluation of jet engine programs during preliminary design

Supervisors: Elsa Henriques (IST-UL), Youssef Marzouk (MIT)

Thesis Title: Integrated inventory-transportation planning
PhD Supervisors: Maria Sameiro Carvalho (UMinho)

jazenha@gmail.com | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2016

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Current position: Technical Manager at Aspock System Portugal

Thesis Title: High strength injection molded thermoplastic composites

Supervisor: António Pontes (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: The objective of this project is to analyze the main obstacles and determine a new method to use injection molding to make structural thermoplastics composite parts reinforced with dry continuous fabrics. The very high viscosity of the molten thermoplastics prevents the use of the traditional thermoset based manufacturing processes. However the very high pressure used in injection molding processes opens possibilities for an alternative with specific mold configurations and injection parameters.

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Thesis Title: Research and develop manufacturing methods for high accuracy positioning and fixing of components and subassemblies for a LIDAR system with the request to ensure the system accuracy over lifetime.

PhD Supervisor: Luís Alves (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: Autonomous driving vehicles are expensive and restricted to luxury models but the goal for the near future is to spread the technology to be available for every car. The eyes of the system is a LIDAR sensor which is the responsible for mapping the environment around the vehicle. To become commercially attractive, one must develop manufacturing methods capable of positioning the opto-electronic components in μm-level (in all degree of freedom) on PCB. Besides, due to wide range of operating temperatures and laser heat generation, it is crucial to find materials with a coefficient of thermal expansion close to zero.

jferreira@deetc.isel.ipl.pt | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

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Research topic/ area: V2G Smart System: A conceptual Model for Electrical Vehicle Charging Problem

PhD Supervisor: João Luiz Afonso (UMinho) and Alberto Manuel Rodrigues da Silva (Técnico Lisboa)

PhD Thesis (2013): Mobi-System: Towards na Information System to Support Sustainable Mobility with Electric Vehicle Integration

joaofdfigueiredo@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2016

Thesis Title: New Roles for Engineering and Industrial Design in the Development of Highly Complex Products

Supervisors: Correia Nuno (INEGI), Ruivo Inês (Uévora), Lino Jorge (FEUP)

Thesis Topic: Departing from a historical retrospective, which relates engineering, industrial design and technology, this research’s aims to the development of a multidisciplinary methodological outline in accordance with the current technological and social paradigms. Within this research, technology is considered for the role of mediator between engineering and industrial design, has, in some historical moments, served as an integrator of these two differently rooted disciplines, in processes which have led to innovation. Moreover, in the conflict between technology and society lied the reform and regulation for design practice, in its broadest sense.

IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2010 | Graduation year: 2015

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Thesis Title: Requirements Change in Complex Product Development: Understanding Causes, Managing Uncertainty and Planning for Change

Supervisors: Elsa Henriques (IST-UL), Arlindo Silva (IST-UL)

jsimoespedro@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2014

Research topic/ area: Design of a Multifunction Wheel Module for Electric Vehicles

Thesis Title: Development of a Multifunction Wheel-Embedded Assembly for Electric Vehicles

Supervisors: Luis Sousa (IST-UL), William Mitchell (MIT)

joaomanaia@netcabo.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2014

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PhD Supervisor: Francisco Manuel Andrade Pires (FEUP)

Research area: Pressure Vessels with focus on plastic liners – Materials Engineering, Mechanical Characterization, Numerical Modeling and Cost Modeling.

joao.ribeiro.lopes@ist.utl.pt | IST | Leaders for Technical Industries PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2017

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Current Position: Senior Consultant at Altran

Thesis Title: Hybrid CFRP/metallic composites for high performance bolted joints

PhD Supervisors: Luis Reis (IST-UL), Pedro Ponces Camanho (FEUP)

Research topic/area: Hybrid Carbon Fibre/Metal laminates for high performance bolted joints in aeronautical applications

Research Summary: Recent research applied to the space industry has shown that a significant increase in bearing resistance of composite bolted joints can be achieved by introducing metallic plies in place of the composite plies in the vicinity of the bolted area, or local hybridization carbon fiber/metallic laminate. This research is aimed at developing this bolted joint to an aeronautical application where it will have to solve new problems like fatigue, damage tolerance, reparability, and cost-effective design.

Publications:

• Estudo Experimental E Analítico, Em Compressão, De Diferentes Espumas Para Aplicação Em Construção Sandwich, APAET, 6^th Congress, Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal
• Bending Tests Of Sandwich Specimens Containing Cork Agglomerates – Comparison With Other Materials – Materials 2007 – Porto Portugal

FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2010

PhD Thesis (2014): Algorithms and technologies for inspection places

PhD Supervisor: António Paulo Gomes Mendes Moreira (FEUP)

jmgoxx@gmail.com | UMinho | Leaders for Technical Industries PhD | Entering year: 2012

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Thesis Title: Automatic detection of drusen associated with age-related macular degeneration in optical coherence tomography: a graph-based approach

PhD Supervisors: Carlos Silva (UMinho), Manuel Ferreira (UMinho)

Research topic/area: Medical Imaging

Research Summary: The thesis’ goal is the development of an automatic algorithm for drusen segmentation in OCT volumes. Drusen are accumulations of materials at the bottom of the retina. Drusen’s volume can give valuable information to the physians about the progress of the age-related macular degeneration, a hazourdous and widespread disease. The segmentation method will be based on the graph cuts framework due to its flexibility, robustness and its good performance in similar tasks.

Publications:

• J. Oliveira, G. Minas and C. Silva, “Automatic detection of microaneurysm based on the slant stacking,” Proceedings of the 26th IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems, Porto, 2013, pp. 308-313. doi: 10.1109/CBMS.2013.6627807

jose.gaspar@ist.utl.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2013

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Current position: PhD Researcher at Center for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering

Research topic/ area: Decision Making Methodology on Human and Machine Interface Innovative Process

Thesis Title: A contribution to understand ill-defined requirements of in-car interfaces

Supervisors: Mihail Fontul (IBER-OLEF), Elsa Henriques (IST-UL)

Thesis Title: Towards a New Generation of Gas-fired Water Heating Systems

lia_c_oliveira@hotmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Supervisor: Jorge Manuel Pinho de Sousa (FEUP); Co- supervisor: João Alberto Vieira de Campos Pereira Claro (FEUP)

Research topic/area: Increasing Flexibility and Collaboration in the Automotive Supply Chain Network

Thesis (2013: Dealing with uncertainty in supply chain design in the automotive industry

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lmjfigueiredo@gmail.com | IST | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2012 | Graduation year: 2017

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Thesis Title: Development and evaluation of an orthopedic absorbable implant based on chitosan

PhD Supervisors: Alexandra Rodrigues (ISEL/IST-UL), Frederico Ferreira (IST-UL), Luís Pinto (Altakitin S.A.)

Thesis Abstract: The main medical applications of chitosan-based products include wound dressing sutures and tissue engineering scaffolds. However, the application of chitosan and its derivatives in 3D forms is very limited due to the inherent difficulties of the development process. The aim of this work is to produce and characterize 3D dense pieces based on chitosan to be used as (internal) bioabsorbable fixation devices. These products require the right strength and stiffness, which are necessary to allow the movement and comfort of the patient until the biological tissue is reconstructed. Additionally, they must be biocompatible, induce the bone formation and degrade over time. In this sense, experimental research work related with the optimization of the manufacturing process of the 3D chitosan pieces will be performed, involving its mechanical, microstructural and biological characterization.

luisbaptistareis@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

lisboa.cardoso@ieee.org | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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PhD Supervisor: João Luiz Afonso (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: The research plan comprises the study of design issues in dynamic energy transfer systems, targeting electric mobility applications. Static energy transfer techniques by magnetic induction will be reviewed in a first phase, whereas experience with simulation tools will be acquired. In a second phase, the work will cover the proposition, optimization, validation by simulation, scale-down modeling, prototyping and experimental verification of newer design concepts and configurations eventually derived.

marcia.lbaptista@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis Title: Aircraft Reliability Assessment based on Data-Intensive Analytics for Predictive Modeling

PhD Supervisor: Elsa Henriques (IST)

Thesis Topic: Aircrafts are valuable assets and a large share of airlines budget is spent on predictive maintenance programs that aim to maximize fleet availability. The application of Prognostics Health Monitoring (PHM) methods in aviation can become a central decision support tool. On this thesis we explore this topic in detail. Also, in this context, a collaboration with Embraer Brazil is established to better gain insight into PHM in aviation.

Publications:

• Baptista, M., Medeiros, I. P. De, Malere, J. P., Prendinger, H., Jr, C. L. N., & Henriques, E. (2016). Improved Time-Based Maintenance in Aeronautics with Regressive Support Vector Machines, 1–10.
• Baptista, M., Medeiros, I. P. De, Malere, J. P., Prendinger, H., Jr, C. L. N., & Henriques, E. (2016). A Comparison of Data-driven Techniques for Engine Bleed Valve Prognostics using Aircraft-derived Fault Messages.
• Fang, A., & Prendinger, H. (2014). Accurate Household Occupant Behavior Modeling Based on Data Mining Techniques, 1164–1170.

marcoleite@ist.utl.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: Materials Selection Considering Technical Performance, Process Cost and Life Cycle Evaluation

mmanuazevedo@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

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Publications:

• Maria Manuela Azevedo, José António Crispim, Jorge Pinho de Sousa, A dynamic multi-objective approach for the reconfigurable multi-facility layout problem, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Volume 42, January 2017, Pages 140-152, ISSN 0278-6125, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2016.12.008.
• Azevedo, M. M., Crispim, J. A., & de Sousa, J. P. (2016). Layout Design and Reconfiguration in a Collaborative Manufacturing Network. In H. Afsarmanesh, L. M. Camarinha-Matos, & A. Lucas Soares (Eds.), Collaboration in a Hyperconnected World: 17th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2016, Porto, Portugal, October 3-5, 2016, Proceedings (pp. 545–556). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45390-3_46
• Azevedo, M. M., Crispim, J. A., & Sousa, J. de. (2012). Flexible and Reconfigurable Layouts in Complex Manufacturing Systems. In C. Emmanouilidis, M. Taisch, & D. Kiritsis (Eds.), 19th Advances in Production Management Systems (APMS) (Vol. AICT-397, pp. 484–493). Rhodes, Greece: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40352-1_61

emt01019@fe.up.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Repair of Aeronautical Structures Under Fatigue Loading

PhD Thesis (2013): Fracture Characterization of Composite Bonded Joints Under Fatigue Loading

Maria Victoria Fernandez’s research was supervised by Marcelo Moura (FEUP) and co-supervised by Lucas Silva (FEUP).

michael.donauer@gmx.de | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

Thesis (2014): Identification of cost effective inspection strategies by means of tailored quality tools, cost modeling and simulation

• Donauer, M., Peças, P. & Azevedo, A. (2015). Identifying nonconformity root causes using applied knowledge discovery. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing.
• Donauer, M., Peças, P. & Azevedo, A.L. (2015). Nonconformity tracking and prioritisation matrix: an approach for selecting nonconformities as a contribution to the field of TQM. Production Planning & Control, 26 (2), (pp. 131-149).
• Silva, E., Donauer, M., Azevedo, A., Pecas, P. & Henriques, E. (2013). A case study evaluating the impact of human behavior on a manufacturing process in-line with automatic processes by means of a simulation model. In Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2013 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 145-149). IEEE.
• Donauer, M., Peças, P. & Azevedo, A. (2013). Nonconformity Root Causes Analysis Through a Pattern Identification Approach. In Advances in Sustainable and Competitive Manufacturing Systems (pp. 851-863). Springer International Publishing.
• Donauer, M., Azevedo, A. and Peças, P. (2012): “Evaluating the Effects of Soft TQM Tools on Quality Costs by Means of Simulation: A Case Study from the Automotive Industry,” Proceedings of 20th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM), (pp. 413 – 421), Helsinki, Finland.

Michael Donauer was distinguished with the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM) in Porto in 2013.

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Thesis Title: On the development of Flexible non-volatile Magnetoresistive Random Access Memories

PhD Supervisor: Susana Freitas (IST-UL)

Thesis Topic: Flexible Electronics is the field that studies electronic devices that can be bent, folded, stretched or conformed without the loss of their functionality. The development and mastering of technologies capable of producing Flexible Electronics is considered a competitive advantage when compared to conventional electronics, because it allows companies to offer completely new product concepts, and depending on the manufacturing process, lower energy consumption and environmentally friendly materials and processes. This thesis focuses on the study of producing flexible electronics using conventional electronics manufacturing process. It aims to understand the design and manufacturing changes needed to incorporate in the conventional electronic circuits so that they can be bent without the loss of their functionality.

miguel.queiros@dep.uminho.pt | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Micromoulding: Cost Model and Technologic Solutions

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Thesis Title:Towards the development of a decision support tool for the planning and scheduling of biopharmaceutical facilities

PhD Supervisors: Tânia Pinto-Varela (IST-UL), Ana Barbosa-Póvoa (IST-UL)

Thesis Topic:The optimal planning and scheduling of industrial operations is crucial for improving production performance and flexibility to market demand. The application of mathematical modeling to real industrial problems remains a challenge, either to model the complex requirements of the manufacturing process, the computational limitations in tackling large planning horizons, or the integration with operational decision systems. The scope of biopharmaceuticals have been gathering particular attention due to its effectiveness in the treatment of diseases such as cancer, diabetes or growth disturbances, raising new production management constraints. This research aims to explore and develop efficient modeling techniques to solve large scale planning/scheduling problems in the biopharmaceutical industry and discuss its deployment as a decision-support system in a real production environment.

m_arsalanfarooq@yahoo.com | FEUP | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current position: Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology – USA

Thesis Title: A Systems Engineering framework for quality improvement of manufacturing systems

Supervoisors: Henriqueta Nóvoa (FEUP), António Araujo (FEUP), Randolph Kirchain (MIT)

nelson38899@yahoo.com.br | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2014

Thesis Title: Advanced in mould assembling technologies for high precision polymer based optical components

Supervisor: António Pontes (UMinho)

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Thesis Title: Towards an integrated approach to design human-centred product-service solutions

PhD Supervisors: Lia Patrício (FEUP), Nicola Morelli (Aalborg University)

Thesis Topic:Servitization – process to shift from product manufacturer to product-service system solution provider – has been recognised as a strategic service research priority. As such, this thesis aims to develop a new method to enable organisations to design integrated good and service solutions, while better leveraging customer experiences. In the last decades, manufacturers have been infusing service in their product offerings. Two research streams aim at designing solutions: Product-service system design and service design; however they have not been integrated. Through a design research approach, new methods and tools are developed to infuse service in organizations; support them to think holistically about their business context, and enable them to co-create new meaningful and integrated product-service solutions with their customers and partners.

Publications:

• Costa, N., Patrício,L., Morelli,M. (2015). Designing product-service system solutions in manufacturing industries.
• Costa, N., Patrício,L., Morelli,M. (2015). Evolving the product-service system design field through the lens of the service-logic and service design.
• Costa, N., Coimbra,O., Ferreira,J. (2013). Computer Platforms to Support Collaborative Design and Development. IDEMI, pp. 645 – 654.

martins@sarobotica.pt | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current position: Robotics Engineer at Dyson / UK

Research topic/area: Golf Ball Picker Robot: Path Generation in Unstructured Environments Towards Multiple Targets

Supervisors: Fernando Ribeiro (UMinho), Daniel Whitney (MIT), Jorge Lino (FEUP)

ncloureiro@engenheiros.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Sustainable Automotive Components for Interior Door Trims

Thesis discussion: Sustainable automotive components for interior door trims on May, 10th, 2013

nuno.miguel.valverde@tecnico.ulisboa.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2017

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Thesis Title:A contribution to product development methodologies addressing user interaction quality: A case study in the design of automotive Human-Machine Interfaces with ill-defined perceptual requirements

PhD Supervisors: António Ribeiro (IST-UL), Mihail Fontul (IBER-OLEFF)

Research topic/ area:Defining an engineering model to address kinesthesic and acoustic percept requirements in automotive product design

Research summary:This research aims at developing a framework in the design of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) for automotive applications. With an industrial manufacturers’ product as a study-case, the main goal is to achieve an engineering model for designing automotive dash-board interfaces.
This model aims at contributing in engineering methods and tools for research and development in product design that focus on perceptual systems and when psychophysics requirements are imposed. It also aims at defining adequate physical properties to the case-study, still in conceptual and design stages, in order to satisfy kinesthesic and acoustic percept requirements in the final product.

nunoguitian@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2015

Current position: Inhouse Consulting at Merck Group, Germany

Thesis Title: Towards High Strength 3D Chitosan-Based Implants for Biomedical Applications

Supervisors: Alexandra Rodrigues (IST), Luis Reis (IST), Luis Pinto (Altakitin)

PhD Supervisors: Luís Faria (IST-UL), Ricardo Simões (IPCA)

peter.pan2010@hotmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/ area: Creativity in Product Development: Thinking for Innovation

Research interests: Product development, engineering design, creativity

poyahoo@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2016 I

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Current position: Postdoctoral researcher / INEGI, Porto

Thesis Title: Sustainable pre-fabricated composite housing

Supervisors: Nuno Correia (INEGI), Adélio Mendes (FEUP), Vítor Leal (FEUP), Jeremy Gregory (MIT)

IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

Research topic/ area: Robustness of Lean Assembly Systems – The Effect of Variability

Thesis Discussion Heterogeneity and Variability on Human-Centered Assembly Systems on March, 11th, 2013

ricardobiomedico@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

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Previous Position: Junior Research Engineer at PIEP – Innovation in Polymer Engineering

IST | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

Thesis Title: Industrial machine structural components’ optimization and redesign

PhD Supervisors: Ferrie van Hattum (UMinho), José Sá (FEUP), Joel Clark (MIT)

ricardo.greenfield@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM-LTI PhD | Entering year: 2011 | Graduation year: 2015

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Current position: Branch Manager – Portugal / International Projects at EurA Consult, AG

Thesis Title: On the development of network commitment in intentional innovation networks: Towards a practical framework for network creation and sustained development

Supervoisors: António Lucas Soares (FEUP), Ana Cristina Barros (FEUP), Anne McCants (MIT)

almeida.ricardo@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008

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Current Position: Industry Information Systems Consultant at Primavera Business Software Solutions SA

Previous Position: Industry Consulting Manager at Winsig

Research topic/ area: Flexible Information Technologies for Complex and Non-Hierarchical Supply Chain Networks

Publications:

• J. Bastos, A. Azevedo and R. Almeida, “Collaborative planning in customer-oriented supplier networks – The CoReNet approach,” 2012 18th International ICE Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Munich, 2012, pp. 1-10. doi: 10.1109/ICE.2012.6297702
• Shamsuzzoha, A., Kankaanpaa, T., Carneiro, L. M., Almeida, R., Chiodi, A., & Fornasiero, R. (2013). Dynamic and collaborative business networks in the fashion industry. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 26(1–2), 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951192X.2012.681916
• Shamsuzzoha;, A. H. M., Kankaanpää;, T., Carneiro;, L., & Almeida, R. (2012). Methodological support to establish a collaborative non-hierarchical business network for complex product manufacturing. //dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJNVO.2012.048926
• Almeida, R., Toscano, C., Carneiro, L., & Azevedo, A. (2011). Aggregate Collaborative Planning in Non-hierarchical Business Networks. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23330-2_51

ricardo.torcato@fe.up.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2008 | Graduation year: 2017

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Current Position: Adjunct Professor at University of Aveiro

Thesis Title: Modeling the product development process: the RIM case study

PhD Supervisors: Ricardo Santos (FEUP), António Fernandes (FEUP), Madalena Dia (FEUP), Randolf Kirchain (MIT), Rich Roth (MIT)

Research topic/ area: Methodology for Competitiveness Evaluation of Technology Developments – The RIMcop Case Study

dli12002@fe.up.pt ; ritarr89@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

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Thesis title: The User Emotions and Experience Problem: Guidelines to support the development of new institutions centered on users’ emotions and experiences

PhD Supervisor: João Manuel R. S. Tavares (FEUP)

Research Area: The User Emotions and Experience Problem: Guidelines to support the development of new services centered on the users’ experience

Thesis Topic: The aim of this project is the creation of guidelines to support the development of new healthcare services centered on the users. In order to do this an analysis of the users’ emotions and experiences will be conducted in existing institutions, in order to understand the current problems in the existing services that affect the user experience of the service. The objective is to avoid the problems identified in future services, through the use of the developed guidelines.

ruicar@fe.up.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: Designing the Travel Experience

Research interests: Tourist behavior; Transportation; Buses’ interiors design and development

rui.pedro.rocha@gmail.com | UMinho | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

PhD supervisor: José Higino Gomes Correia and João Paulo Pereira do Carmo

Thesis Title (2013): Microlenses for Optical Microsystems

Thesis Abstract: Lenses have been used by mankind for thousands of years for innumerous different reasons and applications. More recently, lenses in the micro scale dimension, so called microlenses (MLs), have been designed and fabricated using semiconductor technology. These new lenses are used for collimation, focusing or imaging and are an appealing alternative for applications where miniaturization and alignment simplicity are important requirements. Moreover, they also opened a large number of new applications for optical structures and, at the same time, reducing the mechanical and electrical complexity of the existing systems. In this context, the presented thesis has as main purposes, the design and development of a process that allows the fabrication of different sized plano-convex MLs with minor intervention on the process parameters.

The MLs were fabricated using a photoresist, the AZ4562, through classical photolithography and the thermal reflow process. Another achievement was the fabrication of MLs directly on the surface of a silicon die containing complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) photodiodes (PDs) for quantifying the differences in their photocurrents generation capacity. The MLs’ optimum fabrication process was achieved when a 128k dots per inch (dpi) super high-resolution chrome on soda lime glass 3.3-0.060” photomask was employed. This photomask allows the design pattern to be transferred into the photoresist with very high precision. Nevertheless, for actually obtaining the desired lens profile, it is necessary to apply a thermal treatment to the fabricated microstructures. When the photoresist is submitted to a temperature higher than its glass transition temperature, it softens allowing the shape change to occur. For MLs, the major external force acting during this process is the surface tension. The fabricated MLs were structurally characterized using a profilometer and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. For measuring the focal length, an opto-mechanical alignment system was assembled and a difference of just 4% was found between the measured and the theoretical values. An additional improvement was achieved by introducing a rehydration step in the fabrication process. The prebake stage used during the fabrication serves for evaporating the solvent off the photoresist but also, all of its water content. As a result, it was demonstrated that the AZ4562 needs rehydration in order to obtain excellent results by preventing structural damages in the MLs which are crucial for achieving efficient optical properties. The main advantage of this new optimized process is the further improvement of well-established standard microfabrication processes, i.e., photolithography combined with photoresist thermal reflow. Then, three approaches for integrating the MLs with the photodetecting substrate were tested. The first was using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) intermediate layer for controlling the thickness between the MLs and the photodetecting substrate for allowing different focal lengths to be used depending on the application. The second one is setting the MLs’ focal length within the photodetectors’ depletion region using a 150 μm thin glass substrate for demonstrating that the current generation is enhanced for the same active area. Finally, the third approach consists on a setup composed by a MLs array fabricated directly on top of the PDs and in this approach, two solutions are presented. One is the fabrication of a ML on a square PD with the side measuring 24 μm. This setup enables the capture of light that would otherwise fall outside the photodiodes’ active area resulting in an overall photocurrent generation gain. The other is the fabrication of a MLs array using the same photomask but on a square PD with the side measuring 240 μm for determining the level of photocurrent generation. Moreover, two light sources (red and white lights) were used for evaluating the light acquisition enhancement capacity. From the results that were obtained under different integration solutions, the direct fabrication of MLs on PDs was the one with the better results concerning photocurrent generation by improving it by more than 14% and 2% for red and white lights, respectively. The red light has the ideal penetration depth in silicon for achieving the most prominent enhancement in photocurrent generation presented in this thesis. The MLs that were designed and fabricated, as well as their integration solutions with a photosensitive substrate, show interesting potential in applying them on industry standard fabrication processes for optical microsystems, from light-acquisition enhancement applications to image sensors.

Publications :

Book Chapters:

• A. F. Silva, R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Chapter 6 Photonic Sensors Based on Flexible Materials with FBGs for Use on Biomedical Applications, of the book Current Trends in Short- and Long-period Fiber Gratings, Publisher: InTech, Viena, Austria, edited by Christian Cuadrado-Laborde, Optical Research Center, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina, doi: 10.5772/3320, ISBN 978-953-51-1131-3 (hardcover 184 pages), 2013.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Fabrication Methodology of Microlenses for Stereoscopic Imagers Using Standard CMOS Process, Microelectronics Technology and Devices – SBMicro 2012, ECS Transactions: Electrochemical Society, doi:10.1149/04901.0323ecst. ISBN 978-1-56677-990-6 (hardcover), 2012.

Journal Publications:

• M. J. Maciel, R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Measurement and statistical analysis toward reproducibility validation of AZ4562 cylindrical microlenses obtained by reflow, Measurement: Elsevier Science, Vol. 49, pp. 60-67, March 2014.
• R. P. Rocha, J. M. Gomes, J. P. Carmo, A. F. Silva and J. H. Correia, Low-cost/high-reproducibility flexible sensor based on photonics for strain measuring, Optics and Laser Technology, Vol. 56, pp. 278-284, 2014.
• J. P. Carmo, R. P. Rocha, M. Bartek, G. de Graaf, R. F. Wolffenbuttel and J. H. Correia, A review of visible-range Fabry–Perot microspectrometers in silicon for the industry, Journal of Optics & Lasers Technology: Elsevier Science, Vol. 44, No. 7, pp. 2312-2320, October 2012.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo, M. Belsley and J. H. Correia, Microlenses array made with AZ4562 photoresist for stereoscopic acquisition, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 47, pp. 619-622 , Elsevier Science, 2012, September 9-12, 2012.
• J. P. Carmo, A. F. Silva, R. P. Rocha and J. H. Correia, Application of Fiber Bragg Gratings to Wearable Garments, IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 261-266, January 2012.
• J. P. Carmo, M. F. Silva, R. P. Rocha, J. F. Ribeiro, L. M. Goncalves and J. H. Correia, Stereoscopic image sensor in CMOS technology, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 25, pp. 1277-1280, 2011.

Conference Publications:

• R. P. Rocha, M. J. Maciel, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, High-quality surface microlenses based on rehydration, Proceedings of the XXIV Conference MicroMechanicsEurope (MME) 2013, Espoo, Finland, 1-4 September 2013.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Fabrication Methodology of microlenses for stereoscopic imagers using standard CMOS process, SBMicro 2012 Chip in Brasilia: 27th Symposium on Microelectronics Technology and Devices, 30 August – 2 September 2012, Brasília, DF (Distrito Federal), Brazil, pp. 1-4.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo, Michael Belsley and J. H. Correia, Microlenses array made with AZ4562 photoresist for stereoscopic acquisition, Eurosensors 2012, Kraków, Poland, September 9-12, 2012.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Fabrication of AZ4562 refractive microlenses array for light enhancement on optical microsystems, Proceedings of MME 2012, Ilmenau, Germany, 9-12 September 2012.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo, M. F. Silva and J. H. Correia, Polichromatic image sensor with microlenses for stereoscopic acquisition, Annual Seminar on Automation, Industrial Electronics and Instrumentation (SAAEI’12), Guimarães, Portugal, 11-13 July 2012, pp. 1-4.
• R. P. Rocha, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, Microlenses for stereoscopic image formation, BIODEVICES 2012 – International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices, Vilamoura, Portugal, pp. 114-118, 1-4 February 2012.
• J. P. Carmo, R. P. Rocha, M. F. Silva, D. S. Ferreira, J. F. Ribeiro and J. H. Correia, Stereoscopic Image Sensor with Low-Cost RGB Filters Tunned for the Visible Range, IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits, and Systems (ICECS), Beirut, Lebanon, 11-14 December 2011, pp. 285-288.
• R. P. Rocha, A. F. Silva, J. P. Carmo and J. H. Correia, FBG in PVC Foils for Monitoring the Knee Joint Movement During the Rehabilitation Process, in Proceedings of 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Boston, Massachusetts USA, August 30-September 3, 2011, pp. 458-461.

samuelmoniz@gmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

PhD Supervisor: Ana Póvoa (Técnico Lisboa)

PhD Co-supervisor: Jorge Pinho (FEUP).

PhD Thesis (2014): Scheduling of Multipurpose Batch Plants – Towards the Development of a Decision-Making Tool for the Chemical-Pharmaceutical Industry

Publications in International Journals

• Moniz, S., Barbosa Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2014). Simultaneous regular and non-regular production scheduling of multipurpose batch plants: a real chemical-pharmaceutical case study, Computers & Chemical Engineering ,67, 83-102, doi: 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2014.03.017.
• Moniz, S., Barbosa-Póvoa, A. P., de Sousa, J. P., & Duarte, P. (2014). Solution Methodology for Scheduling Problems in Batch Plants. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 53(49), 19265-19281. doi: 10.1021/ie403129y
• Moniz, S., Barbosa Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2013). A new general discrete-time scheduling model for multipurpose batch plants. Industrial & engineering chemistry research. doi: 10.1021/ie4021073

Publications and Communications in International Conferences

• Moniz, S., Marques, A., Carvalho, S., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2015). A simulation-optimization approach for production planning and scheduling. Proceedings of XXI International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.
• Moniz, S., Barbosa Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2015). On the complexity of production planning and scheduling in the pharmaceutical industry: the Delivery Trade-offs Matrix. Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 37, 1865-1870. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-63576-1.50005-4
• Sousa, C., Soares, A. L., Pereira, C., & Moniz, S. (2014). Establishing Conceptual Commitments in the Development of Ontologies Through Competency Questions and Conceptual Graphs. On The Move To Meaningful Internet Systems, 8842, 626-635 (10). doi:10.1007/978-3-662-45550-0_64
• Moniz, S., Barbosa-Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2012). Regular and non-regular production scheduling of multipurpose batch plants. Proceedings of the 22nd European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-59520-1.50012-9.
• Moniz, S., Barbosa-Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2012). Scheduling with equipment redesign in multipurpose batch plants. Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Operations – FOCAPO 2012.

Publications and Communications in National Conferences

• Moniz, S., Barbosa-Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2015). Recent Trends and Challenges in Planning and Scheduling of Chemical-Pharmaceutical Batch Plants. IO 2015 XVII Congresso da Associação Portuguesa de Investigação Operacional.
• Moniz, S., Barbosa-Póvoa, A. P., & Pinho de Sousa, J. (2013). Extending the Resource-Task Network (RTN) for Industrial Scheduling Problems. IO 2013, XVI Congresso da Associação Portuguesa de Investigação Operacional.

sara@mecatronicos.pt | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009 | Graduation year: 2016

Thesis Title: Light-Duty Vehicles Energy and Emissions “Eco-Score” Considering Total Life Cycle Analysis and Different End-Users

PhD Supervisors: Carla Monteiro da Silva, Luís Galrão dos Reis and João Luiz Afonso.

Summary: The development of this work aims the rating of energy and CO2 emissions of light-duty vehicles considering several technologies (internal combustion engine vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, pure electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles) and different end users (urban, highway, mix driving and driving frequency). An assessment of the optimization model for possible technology/end user combinations will be conducted using heuristic methods, considering energy consumption and CO2 emissions emitted along total life cycle. A benefit analysis of a smart connection to the grid will be performed, regarding environmental aspects and its inclusion in the rating. The main innovative aspect of this work is to fulfill the gap created by the actual labeling methods for vehicles, which is not set for new vehicle technologies (e.g. electric and hybrid).

shenay@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

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Current Position: Research Scientist at INESC Technology and Science – Associate Laboratory

Thesis title: Collaborative planning in dynamic networks

PhD Supervisor: Jorge Pinho de Sousa (FEUP), José António Almeida Crispim (UMinho)

Thesis Topic: Dynamic manufacturing networks (DMN) are collaborative networks of autonomous companies (mainly SMEs) that are quickly formed to respondprompt business opportunities. Unlike partnership models, DMNs pool their resources, share real time data and operate via a centralized platform.
As order-driven networks, lifecycle of DMNs is composed of network formation, execution/monitoring and dissolution stages. This thesis contributes to DMN literature in the network formation and operational planning area. Utilizing several Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) models, our objective is to support optimal lot sizing and assignment decisions.
Initially, we present an extended model for globally dispersed DMNs with dispersed demand and mode selection functionalities. Later we deal with multi objective models by also taking into account other objectives as performance and reconfigurability.

sergio.tavares@fe.up.pt | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2007

Research topic/area: New Design Concepts for Aeronautical Products Welded by Friction Stir

sabet@mit.edu | smm.sabet@gmail.com | UMinho | Leaders for Technical Industries PhD | Entering year: 2010 | Graduation year: 2015

Research topic/area: Materials Engineering, MMC Composites, Product Design and Development, Numerical Modeling

Research Summary: ‘Designing Next Generation Car Washing Machines’

This project is aimed at designing a new rollover car washing machine based on an existing model at in order to accomplish a number of objectives:

1. Minimizing manufacturing time, labor & complexities.
2. Improving transportation & installation strategies.
3. Reducing weight/size.
4. Developing corrosion resistance and maintenance.
5. Enhancing the drying mechanism.

In order to reduce the number of heavy structural elements and time-consuming joining processes, new design concepts were developed. The most feasible design was studied using numerical tools:

• Finite Element method was applied to study and validate the mechanical behaviour of the new structure under working conditions.
• CFD was used to simulate the airflow behaviour of the new drying system.

Numerical results were validated by experimental methods.

vascoft@hotmail.com | FEUP | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2009

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4140.fatigue@gmail.com | IST | EDAM LTI PhD | Entering year: 2013/2014

PhD Supervisor: Luis Reis (DEM/IST) ; PhD Co-Supervisor: Elsa Henriques (DEM/IST)

Thesis topic: Extending Life Cycle of Composite Aircraft Structures – This research is focused in composite structures and their damage repair. It is proposed an optimized repairing technique, taking into account risk management and LEAN design methods. A new production design of an aircraft component is proposed in order to improve their mechanical strength.