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Publications

Publications by Maria Clara Vaz

2021

A Panel Data Analysis of the Electric Mobility Deployment in the European Union

Authors
Gruetzmacher, SB; Vaz, CB; Ferreira, AP;

Publication
OPTIMIZATION, LEARNING ALGORITHMS AND APPLICATIONS, OL2A 2021

Abstract
Governments all over the world have been promoting electric mobility as an effort to reduce the transport sector’s greenhouse emissions and fossil fuel dependency. This work analyses the deployment of electric vehicles in the European Union countries, between 2015 and 2019, and the variables that may influence it, using a panel data methodology. The present work focuses on the deployment of battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, individually and jointly. Nine explanatory variables were included in the model: density of recharging points, gross domestic product per capita, cumulative number of policies on electromobility, share of renewable energy in transport, total greenhouse gas emissions per capita, tertiary education attainment, electricity price, employment rate and new registrations of passenger cars per capita. The results showed that the indicators influence differently the deployment of the different types of electric vehicles. The most significant factor driving the battery electric vehicles deployment was the density of recharging points, while for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles was the share of renewable energy. Policy makers should focus on adjusting actions to the demand for the different types of electric vehicles.

2022

Sustainability performance assessment of the transport sector in European countries

Authors
Gruetzmacher, SB; Vaz, CB; Ferreira, AP;

Publication
REVISTA FACULTAD DE INGENIERIA-UNIVERSIDAD DE ANTIOQUIA

Abstract
The transport sector plays a fundamental role in the European Union economy and its efficiency is fundamental to strengthen the region's environmental and economic performance. Unfortunately, the sector still remains heavily dependent on oil resources and is responsible for a large part of the air pollution. The European Union has been promoting various initiatives towards sustainable transport development by setting targets in the sector such as the ones proposed in the 2011 White Paper on transport. Under this context, this study aims at evaluating the environmental performance of the transport sector in 28 European Union countries, from 2015 to 2018, towards the policy agenda established in the strategic documents. The assessment of the transport environmental performance is made through the aggregation of seven sub-indicators into a composite indicator using a Data Envelopment Analysis technique. A variant of the Benefit of the Doubt model is used to determine the weights to aggregate the sub-indicators. The results obtained indicate that the European Union countries have been improving their transport environmental performance in the last two years of the time span under analysis, i.e., 2017 and 2018. Regarding the inefficient countries, results suggest they should improve the transport sustainability mainly by drastically reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-based propulsion, increasing the share of freight transport using rail and inland waterways and also the share of transport energy from renewable sources.

2021

Understanding Health Care Access in Higher Education Students

Authors
Vaz, FJA; Vaz, CB; Cadinha, LCD;

Publication
Communications in Computer and Information Science - Optimization, Learning Algorithms and Applications

Abstract

2021

Assessing the Deployment of Electric Mobility: A Review

Authors
Gruetzmacher, SB; Vaz, CB; Ferreira, AP;

Publication
COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS, ICCSA 2021, PT V

Abstract
The transport sector of the European Union is the only sector of the economy that has been increasing its emissions since 2014. To reduce the use of fossil fuels and achieve the greenhouse gas emissions mitigation target, many countries are focusing on the deployment of electric vehicles. This paper aims at analysing recent literature on the deployment of electric vehicles (EV) and typifying objectives, methods and indicators generally exploited, to better understand the state of the art on this topic. The Web of Science database was used and the results showed that the interest in the topic of electric vehicles has been increasing exponentially since 2010. The main significant indicators and the assessment methodologies were analysed. The indicators identified were aggregated in four main clusters: environmental, economic, social and technical indicators. Although the factors that contribute to EV deployment can vary depending on the regions specific characteristics, most of the research studies pointed out that the main contributors are the high density of recharging points, the existence of government monetary incentives and the lower operational cost of EV.

2021

Brand Affiliation: Portrait of Hotel Establishments in Portugal

Authors
Alves, JMA; Vaz, CB; Martins, CA;

Publication
PROCEEDINGS OF 2021 16TH IBERIAN CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES (CISTI'2021)

Abstract
Hospitality is one of the most important sectors in the tourist activity in Portugal. Knowing the characteristics and features of the hotel units operating in Portugal is important for all those who make decisions about investment in this sector. Knowing the reality of brand affiliation of Portuguese hotel establishments is also a matter of great interest for hoteliers in supporting strategic decision-making. Performing the analysis of the universe of hotel establishments in Portugal, their characterization is made concerning their features, facilities and equipment. In addition, the reality of brand affiliation of Portuguese hotel establishments is analyzed and discussed through a logistic regression model. The results allow us to conclude that just over a third of hotel establishments in Portugal are brand affiliated and they are mostly located in the more touristic regions. The results also show that brand affiliated hotel establishments have, on average, a greater number of stars, greater capacity and a greater number of facilities than non-brand affiliated hotel establishments.

2021

Dynamic Response Surface Method Combined with Genetic Algorithm to Optimize Extraction Process Problem

Authors
Lima L.A.; Pereira A.I.; Vaz C.B.; Ferreira O.; Carocho M.; Barros L.;

Publication
Communications in Computer and Information Science

Abstract
This study aims to find and develop an appropriate optimization approach to reduce the time and labor employed throughout a given chemical process and could be decisive for quality management. In this context, this work presents a comparative study of two optimization approaches using real experimental data from the chemical engineering area, reported in a previous study [4]. The first approach is based on the traditional response surface method and the second approach combines the response surface method with genetic algorithm and data mining. The main objective is to optimize the surface function based on three variables using hybrid genetic algorithms combined with cluster analysis to reduce the number of experiments and to find the closest value to the optimum within the established restrictions. The proposed strategy has proven to be promising since the optimal value was achieved without going through derivability unlike conventional methods, and fewer experiments were required to find the optimal solution in comparison to the previous work using the traditional response surface method.

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