Abstract
We consider a single item Production-Inventory-Routing problem with a single producer/supplier and multiple retailers. Inventory management constraints are considered both at the producer and at the retailers, following a vendor managed inventory approach, where the supplier monitors the inventory at retailers and decides on the replenishment policy for each retailer. We assume a constant production capacity. Based on the mathematical formulation we discuss a classical Lagrangian relaxation which allows to decompose the problem into four subproblems, and a new Lagrangian decomposition which decomposes the problem into just a production-inventory subproblem and a routing subproblem. The new decomposition is enhanced with valid inequalities. A computational study is reported to compare the bounds from the two approaches. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.

Abstract
Our paper considers a classic problem in the field of Truss Topology Design, the goal of which is to determine the stiffest truss, under a given load, with a bound on the total volume and discrete requirements in the cross-sectional areas of the bars. To solve this problem we propose a new two-stage Branch and Bound algorithm. In the first stage we perform a Branch and Bound algorithm on the nodes of the structure. This is based on the following dichotomy study: either a node is in the final structure or not. In the second stage, a Branch and Bound on the bar areas is conducted. The existence or otherwise of a node in this structure is ensured by adding constraints on the cross-sectional areas of its incident bars. In practice, for reasons of stability, free bars linked at free nodes should be avoided. Therefore, if a node exists in the structure, then there must be at least two incident bars on it, unless it is a supported node. Thus, a new constraint is added, which lower bounds the sum of the cross-sectional areas of bars incident to the node. Otherwise, if a free node does not belong to the final structure, then all the bar area variables corresponding to bars incident to this node may be set to zero. These constraints are added during the first stage and lead to a tight model. We report the computational experiments conducted to test the effectiveness of this two-stage approach, enhanced by the rule to prevent free bars, as compared to a classical Branch and Bound algorithm, where branching is only performed on the bar areas.

Abstract
The use of industrial by-products to produce new types of cement-substitute binders is gaining significant momentum, especially through the alkaline activation technique. However, the exact curing conditions that should be considered with each binder variation have not yet been fully understood. The aim of the present work is thus the statistical analysis of the effects of several factors, namely filler/precursor ratio and curing humidity, on the compressive strength of different mixtures prepared with mine tailings (filler), fly ash (precursor) and an alkali activator based on sodium hydroxide. Five different types of mixture were prepared, with filler/precursor ratios of 80/20, 60/40, 40/60, 20/80 and 0/100. All the specimens were cured at 80 degrees C for 7 days, after which they were submitted to a uniaxial compression strength (UCS) test. Three different values of curing humidity were considered, namely 25%, 50% and 75%. Each UCS value was the average of 9 different specimens tested. The aim of the present research is to establish how much these two factors (inert/precursor ratio and curing humidity) influence the UCS. For that purpose, a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), with interaction, was performed; followed by a Tuckey's Post hoc test. The results showed statistically significant differences for at least one humidity value F(2,127) = 31.647 (p<0.001) as well as one inert/precursor ratio F(4,127) = 371.64; (p<0.001) and for interaction F(8,127) = 9.33; (p<0.001). To evaluate which level or levels are different a Tuckey's Post hoc test was performed. This test revealed that the humidity value of 50% presented statistically significant differences regarding the remaining two values. In addition, it was concluded that this humidity value (50%) leads to lower binder's resistance. Concerning the inert/precursor ratio, the nonsignificant differences only occur between the 80/20 and 60/40 cases, although the strength values increase, in general, as the ash percentage increases. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Abstract
The size of a farm is one of the factors that influence its productivity, in an ambiguous relationship that is often discussed in the industrial economy. In Portugal, the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR) is characterized by very small farms. Usually, this trend is considered a limitating factor in the profitability of the wine farms. In order to assess the correctness of this sentence, the variation of wine productivity per land size, from 2010 to 2016, was studied in the DDR, considering its three distinctive areas: Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. The farms were categorized in nine different size ranges; as these variables outnumber the available seven observations, the Generalized Maximum Entropy (GME) estimator was used, since it suits the need to solve an ill-conditioned problem. GME was applied with the MATLAB (MATrix LABoratory) software along with the Bootstrap technique. According to the simulations, larger farms (with an area greater than 20 ha) on Douro Superior and Cima Corgo reveal higher marginal productivity given the current state of the region. On the other hand, Baixo Corgo's results suggest that medium-sized farms (with area ranges between 2 and 5 ha) display higher marginal increments to the region wine productivity. © 2018 UniCeSV, University of Florence

Abstract
Understanding the role of the climate on the wine production is one of the major concerns of this sector since the environment usually determines the output of this industry. There are only a few previous studies that attempted to compile these environmental effects as an index, usually considering the temperature and the precipitation as their core variables. The present study suggests a new climate index which is based on descriptive statistics. Our index tries to mimic the target region characteristics and avoid the past studies premise of imposing previously conceived restrictions such as a fixed optimal climate. We then used yearly production and daily temperature data (1950-2016) from the Portuguese Minho wine region to test our proposed index and compare it with Ribéreau-Gayon and Peynaud (RGP, Ribéreau-Gayon et al., 2003) and Growing Degree-Days (GDD, Winkler et al., 1974) indexes. Our results showed that the newly proposed index may outperform the explanatory power of the other indexes and, in addition, may output interesting and unknown characteristics such as the different ideal temperatures regarding the studied region. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018.

Abstract
The use of industrial by-products to produce new types of cement-substitute binders is gaining significant momentum, particularly through the alkaline activation technique. However, the exact curing conditions that should be considered with each binder variation have not been fully understood yet. The aim of the present work is thus the statistical analysis of the effects of curing conditions (humidity and temperature) on the mechanical response (uniaxial compression strength and elastic modulus) of different aggregate/binder weight ratios. Five blends of solid mine tailings (as an aggregate) and fly ash (as a precursor), both collected from the Portuguese industry, were activated with sodium hydroxide solution and cured under nine different temperature and humidity combinations. The data analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variance, followed by Tukey's post hoc test, whenever appropriate. Results show that the curing humidity factor showed a lower impact than the curing temperature. Although the increase in temperature and decrease in humidity produced higher compression strengths, the best results were obtained with a specific combination of both (60 degrees C and 50% relative humidity). In general, the increase in tailings' content produced a reduction in compression strength, but only for values above 20% (by weight of the sum of solids).