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Publications

Publications by CESE

2023

Towards a Concrete Implementation of the Principle of Transparency in the Digital Services Act

Authors
Carneiro, D; Palumbo, G;

Publication
NEW TRENDS IN DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, TECH ETHICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DITTET 2023

Abstract
In recent years, the EU has been pushing forward ground-breaking legislation that covers new digital environments and services, with a strong focus on Ethics and AI. This includes legislation such as the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act or the General Data Protection Regulation. This legislation is, however, often written in very general and high-level terms, leaving a lot of space for interpretation, and a gap concerning how it could or should be implemented, realistically. In this paper we look specifically at the principle of Transparency in the Digital Services Act. Specifically, we discuss the requirements concerning Transparency in the regulation, we identify the gaps, and propose concrete measures that can be considered to facilitate and guide its implementation.

2023

Holistic Framework to Data-Driven Sustainability Assessment

Authors
Pecas, P; John, L; Ribeiro, I; Baptista, AJ; Pinto, SM; Dias, R; Henriques, J; Estrela, M; Pilastri, A; Cunha, F;

Publication
SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract
In recent years, the Twin-Transition reference model has gained notoriety as one of the key options for decarbonizing the economy while adopting more sustainable models leveraged by the Industry 4.0 paradigm. In this regard, one of the most relevant challenges is the integration of data-driven approaches with sustainability assessment approaches, since overcoming this challenge will foster more agile sustainable development. Without disregarding the effort of academics and practitioners in the development of sustainability assessment approaches, the authors consider the need for holistic frameworks that also encourage continuous improvement in sustainable development. The main objective of this research is to propose a holistic framework that supports companies to assess sustainability performance effectively and more easily, supported by digital capabilities and data-driven concepts, while integrating improvement procedures and methodologies. To achieve this objective, the research is based on the analysis of published approaches, with special emphasis on the data-driven concepts supporting sustainability assessment and Lean Thinking methods. From these results, we identified and extracted the metrics, scopes, boundaries, and kinds of output for decision-making. A new holistic framework is described, and we have included a guide with the steps necessary for its adoption in a given company, thus helping to enhance sustainability while using data availability and data-analytics tools.

2023

A Review of Energy and Sustainability KPI-Based Monitoring and Control Methodologies on WWTPs

Authors
de Matos, B; Salles, R; Mendes, J; Gouveia, JR; Baptista, AJ; Moura, P;

Publication
MATHEMATICS

Abstract
Humanity faces serious problems related to water supply, which will be aggravated by population growth. The water used in human activities must be treated to make it available again without posing risks to human health and the environment. In this context, Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) have gained importance. The treatment process in WWTPs is complex, consisting of several stages, which consume considerable amounts of resources, mainly electrical energy. Minimizing such energy consumption while satisfying quality and environmental requirements is essential, but it is a challenging task due to the complexity of the processes carried out in WWTPs. One form of evaluating the performance of WWTPs is through the well-known Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The KPIs are numerical indicators of process performance, being a simple and common way to assess the efficiency and eco-efficiency of a process. By applying KPIs to WWTPs, techniques for monitoring, predicting, controlling, and optimizing the efficiency and eco-efficiency of WWTPs can be created or improved. However, the use of computational methodologies that use KPIs (KPIs-based methodologies) is still limited. This paper provides a literature review of the current state-of-the-art of KPI-based methodologies to monitor, control and optimize energy efficiency and eco-efficiency in WWTPs. In this paper, studies presented on 21 papers are identified, assessed and synthesized, 12 being related to monitoring and predicting problems, and 9 related to control and optimization problems. Future research directions relating to unresolved problems are also identified and discussed.

2023

Template-Assisted Mechanosynthesis Leading to Benchmark Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in the Production of Bifunctional Fe-N-C Electrocatalysts

Authors
Kosimov, A; Alimbekova, A; Assafrei, JM; Yusibova, G; Aruvali, J; Kaarik, M; Leis, J; Paiste, P; Ahmadi, M; Roohi, K; Taheri, P; Pinto, SM; Cepitis, R; Baptista, AJ; Teppor, P; Lust, E; Kongi, N;

Publication
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING

Abstract
Solid-phasetemplate-assisted mechanosynthesis of Fe-N-C,featuring low-cost and sustainable FeCl3, 2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine(TPTZ), and NaCl is reported. Efficient and sustainable synthesis of performant metal/nitrogen-dopedcarbon (M-N-C) catalysts for oxygen reduction and evolutionreactions (ORR/OER) is vital for the global switch to green energytechnologies-fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Thisstudy reports a solid-phase template-assisted mechanosynthesis ofFe-N-C, featuring low-cost and sustainable FeCl3, 2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ), and NaCl. ANaCl-templated Fe-TPTZ metal-organic material was formed usingfacile liquid-assisted grinding/compression. With NaCl, the Fe-TPTZtemplate-induced stability allows for a rapid, thus, energy-efficientpyrolysis. Among the produced materials, 3D-FeNC-LAG exhibits remarkableperformance in ORR (E (1/2) = 0.85 V and E (onset) = 1.00 V), OER (E ( j=10) = 1.73 V), and in the zinc-airbattery test (power density of 139 mW cm(-2)). Themultilayer stream mapping (MSM) framework is presented as a tool forcreating a sustainability assessment protocol for the catalyst productionprocess. MSM employs time, cost, resource, and energy efficiency astechnoeconomic sustainability metrics to assess the potential upstreamimpact. MSM analysis shows that the 3D-FeNC-LAG synthesis exhibits90% overall process efficiency and 97.67% cost efficiency. The proposedsynthetic protocol requires 2 times less processing time and 3 timesless energy without compromising the catalyst efficiency, superiorto the most advanced methods.

2022

A Two-Stage Method to Solve Location-Routing Problems Based on Sectorization

Authors
Teymourifar, A; Rodrigues, AM; Ferreira, JS; Lopes, C; Oliveira, C; Romanciuc, V;

Publication
INNOVATIONS IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Abstract
This paper deals with multi-objective location-routing problems involving distribution centres and a set of customers. It proposes a new two-stage solution method that comprehends the concept of sectorization. Distribution centres are opened, and the corresponding opening cost is calculated. A subset of customers is assigned to each of them and, in this way, sectors are formed. The objective functions in assigning customers to distribution centres are the total deviation in demands of sectors and the total deviation in total distance of customers from centroid of sectors, which must be minimized Afterward, a route is determined for each sector to meet the demands of customers. At this stage, the objective function is the total distance on the routes in the sectors, that must be minimized Benchmarks are defined for the problem and the results acquired with the two-stage method are compared to those obtained with NSGA-II. It is observed that NSGA-II can achieve many non-dominated solutions.

2022

An Integer Programming Approach to Sectorization with Compactness and Equilibrium Constraints

Authors
Romanciuc, V; Lopes, C; Teymourifar, A; Rodrigues, AM; Ferreira, JS; Oliveira, C; Ozturk, EG;

Publication
INNOVATIONS IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Abstract
The process of sectorization aims at dividing a dataset into smaller sectors according to certain criteria, such as equilibrium and compactness. Sectorization problems appear in several different contexts, such as political districting, sales territory design, healthcare districting problems and waste collection, to name a few. Solution methods vary from application to application, either being exact, heuristics or a combination of both. In this paper, we propose two quadratic integer programming models to obtain a sectorization: one with compactness as the main criterion and equilibrium constraints, and the other considering equilibrium as the objective and compactness bounded in the constraints. These two models are also compared to ascertain the relationship between the criteria.

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