João Paulo C. Rodrigues

The Asymmetries of European Integration and the Crisis of Capitalism in Portugal

This article analyses the crisis of Portuguese capitalism within the wider crisis of the Eurozone. Portugals prolonged economic stagnation, associated with an increasingly dependent and fragile insertion in the Eurozone, can now be seen as an early manifestation of the asymmetries and fractures between the Eurozones core and its periphery that are now wider and more visible. By focusing on the manifestations of ‘embedded neoliberalism’ in a country of the periphery, the article sheds light on how neoliberal restructuring has made the economic structure increasingly incompatible with the social developments that had previously helped to guarantee its legitimacy. The troikas structural adjustment reveals that this incompatibility is now fully assumed and that, in the absence of social resistance, the brunt of adjustment will be felt by the majority of workers.

Semi-peripheral financialisation: the case of Portugal

ABSTRACT This paper presents the main features of the financialisation of the Portuguese economy and society by focusing on the relation between the Portuguese financial sector and both external and domestic economic agents. It underlines the role played by the insertion of domestic finance into international financial markets in the financialisation of the country. Based on the Portuguese case, it elaborates on the theoretical understanding of the context-specific nature of semi-peripheral financialisation aimed as a contribution to an emerging body of literature addressing this phase of capitalism.

On markets and morality: Revisiting Fred Hirsch

Abstract This article argues for the continuing relevance of Fred Hirschs The Social Limits to Growth (1976), valued as a critical analysis of the consequences of markets on the moral fabric of society. Two concepts that are fundamental to Hirsch—the commercialization bias and the depleting moral legacy—will be scrutinised. We further claim that this book, by emphasizing the tendency to market expansion and the corresponding commodification of increasing spheres of social life, while simultaneously acknowledging its adverse consequences on the motivational appeal of social and moral norms, offers insights that justify revisiting it.

Distributed retrieval of management information: is it about mobility, locality or distribution?

In this paper we present results from an experimental study addressing the use of mobile agents in the retrieval of management information. We compare several agent-based models for distributed collection and processing of management data, focusing on performance but also considering network traffic and setup costs. This study reveals that in many situations the performance of mobile agent systems is mainly determined by distribution, rather than locality. Furthermore, it shows that despite its importance in the flexibility and adaptability of the management system, agent mobility does not increase the system performance.

Where to Draw the Line between the State and Markets? Institutionalist Elements in Hayek's Neoliberal Political Economy

This article assesses the institutionalist elements of Friedrich Hayeks neoliberal political economy by presenting his views on the entangled relations between the state and markets in capitalism. Through the analysis of Hayeks work, the article contributes to further consolidating the view that neoliberalism is an ideological project of institutional transformation which, despite some enduring myths, has an irreplaceable role for a state with many important functions in a more limited democracy. Markets, for their part, are politically contested social constructions that depend on previous non-market institutions for their existence and legitimation. This paper argues that Hayeks work corroborates this institutionalist claim.

A New Hybrid Motion Planner: Applied in a Brain-Actuated Robotic Wheelchair

This article presents a new hybrid motion (HM) planner, designed to allow robust indoor navigation in constrained environments of nonholonomic differential robots, such as RobChair, the brain-actuated robotic wheelchair from the Institute of Systems and Robotics, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Relying on this new planning algorithm, RobChair is now able to operate in real dynamic environments and perform challenging maneuvers in narrow spaces. The HM planner integrates deliberative and reactive modules in a three-layer structure: a fast three-dimensional (3-D)-global path planner, smoothing, and a new reactive local planner designated the double-dynamic window approach (D-DWA). The 3-D-global path planner consists in the A* algorithm, which defines a path composed by a sequence of (x, y) points, with an interpolation module that has the purpose of assigning an orientation to each (x, y) point. The smoothing algorithm adjusts the (x, y) points to reduce accelerations and jerk associated with the trajectory. The D-DWA is in charge of dynamically adapting the robot motion, taking into account the robot geometry (noncircular robot) and local static/dynamic obstacles, unknown from the global planner perspective. Real-time navigation is achieved because both the smoothing and the D-DWA algorithms are iteratively executed during navigation. The use of multiresolution local grid maps also contributes to the increase of computation performance. To show the effectiveness of the proposed planning algorithm, results of real navigation experiments are reported in this article. The experiments consist in steering RobChair in a real office-like scenario by different participants, using a self-paced P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI).

Influence of web stiffeners on cold-formed steel beams subjected to fire

Purpose This paper aims to present the results of a study on the behaviour of cold-formed galvanized steel beams subjected to fire, using the results of a large programme of experimental tests. Design/methodology/approach The research investigated the influence of web stiffeners in the sections and the stiffness of the surrounding structure, including the axial and rotational restraining to the thermal elongation, on the flexural behaviour of the beams in case of fire. In other words, the structural response of different open cold-formed steel beams, with and without web stiffeners, was compared in case of fire. Findings The results showed that a good choice between using cold-formed steel beams, with and without web stiffeners, may depend on the section shape and the internal forces generated in these members during a fire. Originality/value Temperatures in the furnace and at several points of the beams, as well as deformations and restraining forces and moments, were measured to achieve those goals and consequently to assess the critical time and temperature of these beams.

Balcony Effect on the External Fire Spread into Upper Floors

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the balcony effect of the fire spread, via external windows, into upper floors. Several natural fire tests were carried out in a compartment that intended to represent a small office and the fire development inside and its spread to the upper floors was analysed. They were tested three configurations of balcony above the exterior window of the compartment; no balcony, a balcony of the same width of the window and a balcony one meter wider for each side of the window. These natural fire tests were also numerically simulated with the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software and analytically simulated with the simplified calculation methods of annex A and B of EN1991-1.2. The results of the experimental, numerical and analytical tests were compared with each other. The constructive solution for limiting fire spread into upper floors that proved to be more effective was the one with the balcony one meter wider than the window.

Flexural Behaviour of Cold-Formed Steel Beams

This paper reports a series of flexural tests at ambient temperature focused on cold-formed steel beams composed especially by two or more CFS profiles which are often used in floors and roofs of warehouses and industrial buildings. The main objective of this research was to assess the failure loads and modes of the studied beams and also to compare the structural response of these different kinds of beams. Finally, the results showed above all that the failure loads of the open cross-section beams corresponded to the lateral-torsional buckling modes, whereas the distortional buckling was the responsible buckling mode for the failure loads of the hollow cross-section beams.

Impact Loads in Steel Connections

After attacks on World Trade Center (2001), Madrid (2004), London (2005) and Mumbai (2008), special attention was given to the study of robust structures subjected at different accidental loads, allowing localized failure without being damaged to an extent disproportionate to the original cause. The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) showed problems in the design of structural elements: columns collapse, beams buckling and brittle failure of connections. Concerning this last topic, it was realised that the joint structural details plays very significant role behaviour in structures subjected to accidentals loads. The accidental loads may result from an object impact, blast, explosions, earthquake and fire.