Abstract
This paper presents some concepts related with the development of a "model generator" for simulating supply chain systems. Such concepts arise not only from the object point of view taken over this system, but also from our intention to synthesise the behaviour of such kind of systems in a more general form, in particular concerning the events and activities related with suppliers, factories, warehouses, retailers, and even the last customers, which in fact trigger the flow of materials and information on the chain. Unlike the static approaches usually used for strategic purposes, where parameters like the time of delivery or the average rate of material flow are held as inputs to the system, the ideas described here consider a dynamic representation of the supply chain in which those parameters are results of some detailed simulation process. what gives this approach the ability of modelling those systems starting from the less abstract point of view to a more abstract representation. The result is a more realistic picture of the dynamics involved. Due to this fact, this approach could be seen as being more directed to managers than to strategists. Nevertheless, the objective is also that the models can be used to simulate either short or long periods of time, revealing their usefulness also for strategic analysis. The basis of these ideas is to consider the flow of products, information and money between any elements in the chain as a general form of customer-supplier exchange activity, and also by treating each of those elements as inheriting from a single element which includes the basic behaviour (and resources) of a factory, warehouse and retailer. A description of such element will be made. explaining its structure and the associated fixed and variable costs of its various processes. As we will see, many parameters considered inputs to other modelling techniques will appear here as outputs. giving the analyst more interesting data with which it can measure the supply chain performance by means of any statistical methods.

Abstract
Here we present a computer application planned to be used as an interactive tool for Supply Chain Management Training. Implemented with Visual C++, this application embeds the "Cranfield Blocks Game" (Richard Saw, 2002) network structure, and uses precisely the same demand patterns as the manual version of the game. Anyhow, instead of reducing the play to 12 reorder cycles, as the manual version does, this application extends those patterns throughout the time till any number of reorder cycles, what let the results become more useful and interesting even for didactic purposes. At the same time, the present application substitutes the classroom table by the computer screen, and can be made to run in AUTOPLAY mode, meaning the game can also be played with only one player or even automatically, with no players at all. In a certain way, this comes closer to some kind of Distributed Supply Chain Simulation, apart from the fact each lead time is fixed, as the "Cranfield Blocks Game" states, and the AUTOPLAY stock policy is empirical. As each application communicates with the SERVER using the TCP/IP protocol, the players can be spread by different computers and even placed at different geographic locations if connected to the INTERNET. In the end of this paper, results achieved with an automatic running session and with the involvement of a group of students from the Escola de Gestao do Porto (EGP) will be presented and compared.

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of a visual and interactive warehouse simulator developed with Visual C++ for Windows95/NT operating system. This simulator have been designed under an object oriented programming approach and looks to the warehouse by an hierarchic decision level point of view, which allows an interesting separation of the responsibilities on the system. It is a modular approach where each entity is responsible for its own integrity and functionality, and where the decision rules are separated on three fundamental levels(1): element level, control level and management level. Nevertheless, the main interest of this paper is not to introduce any kind of code statements of the simulator, but instead to present the reader the structure of the more relevant elements and the way they were modelled. At the same time it will be shown some of the user interface facilities and also some references to studies made using this warehouse simulator.

Abstract
Recently, we are witnessing the effort of healthcare providers to move from paper-based records to electronic records, in order to reduce data access times and also to share clinical information. However, many of these electronic records projects have failed, as they are not well fitted to the healthcare professionals' practices. This paper presents a study on the impact of Information Technology in the daily routine of healthcare providers, to support the development of Electronic Health Records that are well adapted to these organizations' operational processes and are successfully adopted.

Abstract
Hospital performance is a critical issue in society and its assessment must be tactfully studied in order to evaluate future decisions. In this paper we report an operating theatre study based on a simulation model, describing one of the biggest public hospitals in the north of Portugal. The model encompasses several operating rooms shared among different medical services and considers the arrival of both elective and emergency patients. We focus on a critical planning problem of the operating theatre, the allocation of medical services to operating rooms and shifts. With a discrete-event simulation model we assess the performance of the current schedule distribution and perform a set of tests in order to find a better master surgery schedule. Experiments show improvement opportunities by balancing surgical services capacities. © 2011 IEEE.

Abstract
From lone to short term planning, the decision processes inherent to surgery theatre organization are often subject of empiricism. The current hospital information systems available on Portuguese public hospitals lack a decision support system component that could help achieve better planning solutions, thus better operational performance of the surgery theatre. Since the surgery theatre is the biggest hospital budget consumer, the use of surgery related resources and its intrinsic planning must be carefully studied. We developed a new decision support system for surgery planning conjointly with one of the largest hospitals in the north of Portugal. As for now, the goals of the DSS are to improve the planning process and increase policy compliance. We will enhance this framework by integrating data mining, optimization and simulation techniques in a way that enables a more accurate representation of the surgery theatre problems' stochastic nature, allowing the users to rind enhanced planning alternatives.