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- Portuguese primary healthcare – sustainability through quality managementPublication . Duarte Silva, Sónia; Fonseca, AnaPurpose The purpose of this paper is to apply quality management tools and practices in the design of an integrated accreditation model for Local Health Trusts, in order to contribute to the sustainability of the Portuguese Primary HealthCare Service. Following the guidelines of the Portuguese Health Quality Strategy, the proposed model is an adaptation of the model from Agencia para la Calidad Sanitaria de Andaluzia. Design/methodology/approach The development of the integrated accreditation model was based on a literature review, complemented with observation and analysis of the usual working methods in a Local Health Trust (Western Oporto Health Trust). Findings Local Health Trusts include not only clinical management units but also non-clinical administrative units. Therefore, the National Model for Accreditation of HealthCare Institutions is not easily or directly applicable to them. To overcome this problem, the model proposed in this study incorporates ISO 9001 principles, widely accepted regarding organizational management. The success of the application of this model is highly dependent on the ability of public Primary HealthCare organizations to deal with potential problems such as resistance to change, lack of leadership and inadequate people management and involvement. Originality/value The integrated accreditation model proposed in this research is expected to promote the cohesion of Local Health Trust units, encouraging integrated quality management practices and continuous improvement strategies, leading Local Health Trusts, Primary Care and HealthCare in a global perspective toward sustainability.
- Eco-design and sustainability in packaging: a surveyPublication . Monteiro, J.; Silva, F.J.G.; Ramos, S.F.; Campilho, R.D.S.G.; Fonseca, A.M.According to “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” of the United Nations, there are seventeen goals essential for the World Sustainable Development. One of these goals has direct implication for the industrial sector – ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. In a world where globalization is more and more present, packaging emerges as a link between all points around the world, allowing transporting and commercializing products on a global level, from producers to consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to study how the packaging industry is adapting itself to the increasing demands of the markets, while complying with the global environmental requirements and sustainable goals established by international organizations. Accordingly, this paper aims to analyse precisely this industry, intending to understand how the theme of Ecodesign and sustainability are faced by packaging manufacturers, and what are the key-factors associated to the success of their implementation in the companies. Characterization of the industry is also presented, defining how companies should organize and prepare themselves in order to have a diminishing environmental impact, a raw-materials sustainability policy and consider environmental aspects through the packaging’s life cycle – Eco-design.
- Investigating context factors in the strategic management of corporate sustainability integrationPublication . Fonseca, Ana; Abreu, Isabel; Silvestre, Winston JerónimoAdequately understanding the role of context factors in the successful development of corporate sustainability-oriented initiatives is an important step towards an integrative vision of sustainability at the organizational level. In the present research, an extensive and structured literature review enabled the identification of 19 context factors relevant for sustainability integration processes. The importance of these context factors was confirmed through a quantitative exploratory research with 156 experienced sustainability professionals from 42 different countries. The results obtained reveal that Commitment, Engagement, Information, Communication and Trust have the highest levels of perceived importance. The results also indicate that the relative importance of these context factors is higher for small and medium sized companies and for companies located in countries with lower Gross Domestic Product. The role of the context factors was analyzed on the scope of the operational stages of a strategic management framework focusing corporate sustainability integration – the Integrative Sustainability Intelligence model. The main contributions of this paper are: the identification of context factors relevant for corporate sustainability integration processes, combining the perspectives of scholars and sustainability professionals; the analysis of the role of the most relevant context factors in the strategic management of corporate sustainability integration processes, enabling the identification of pathways to promote their successful operationalization.
- Strategies to promote circular economy in the management of construction and demolition waste at the regional level: a case study in Manaus, BrazilPublication . Oliveira, Maria do Perpétuo Socorro Lamego; de Oliveira, Evailton Arantes; Fonseca, A.M.Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) cause environmental impacts in a worldwide scale. The existing international concern regarding the adequate management of CDW is justified by the large amount of this waste produced in a daily basis, together with its potential hazardous effects on ecosystems and human health. In this scope, the application of Circular Economy principles to the construction industry is of the utmost importance to define management strategies regarding CDW. Although highly dependent on policies developed at the national level, the promotion of circularity in construction materials usage is also at the reach of local administration bodies. The present research identifies strategies for CDW management at the regional level, involving different stakeholders of the construction industry. These strategies were successfully operationalized through a case study focusing CDW management in the municipality of Manaus, in the centre of the Amazon Forest. The characterization of the reference situation regarding CDW management in Manaus revealed several deficiencies, namely the lack of reuse and recycling opportunities, the unsupervised disposal of CDW in illegal landfills, together with insufficient surveillance procedures and inadequate policies from regional authorities. Improved CDW management strategies were identified and operationalized: valorization of CDW through the enhancement of reuse and recycling opportunities, operationalized through a mobile phone application; reinforcement of training and surveillance practices; and alterations in the municipal policies regarding CDW disposal in the public landfill. The CDW management strategies described and validated in this research are applicable to other Brazilian municipalities or to other countries’ realities, promoting sustainability-oriented practices that can co-exist with economic development.
- Smart management of waste from construction sites: mobile application technology in the city Manaus, Amazonas, BrazilPublication . Oliveira, M.P.S.L.; Oliveira, E.A; Wanderley, A.; Campos, A.M.; Fonseca, A.M.Construction and demolition waste (CDW) can be defined as a mixture of surplus materials generated from construction, renovation and demolition activities, including site cleaning, road works and demolition (Shen et al., 2004). Inadequate management of CDW, affects the environment, the economy and society (Jin et al. 2019). Besides increasing construction costs and real estate prices, CDW can have major negative impacts on the environment (Borja et al., 2019), namely the contamination of soil and watercourses with heavy metals that can cause diseases in the population and wild animals. These negative impacts are of major importance in sensitive natural environments, justifying the relevance of this research in the city of Manaus, in the central Amazon, Brazil. A previous study involved the quantification of CDW produced at 4 construction sites in the city of Manaus, and the costs involved in its management and disposal (Oliveira et al., 2019). The results showed that high quantities of wood and paper waste are produced, with considerable disposal costs, in spite of the high potential to recycle and re-use these types of waste. Metal waste was found to be the only CDW that was being adequately recycled in the construction sites under study, showing the importance of the implementation of an organized system to collect and recycle CDW in the city of Manaus (Oliveira et al., 2019). A similar case study conducted in the city of Santiago, capital of Chile, led to a quantification of the CDW volume for further management improvement proposals (Bravo et al., 2019). According to this study, in Santiago the generated volume of CDW per building area is 0.186 m3/m2, with a management cost of 75.47 US$/m3 (Bravo et al., 2019). These values are of the same magnitude as the ones found in the research study conducted in Manaus (Oliveira et al., 2019). Ogunmakinde et al. (2019) describe CDW management in Nigeria, highlighting the existing corruption and unethical practices of large companies who prefer to dig and bury the CDW in clandestine landfills, refusing to comply with environmental laws to avoid loss of profits. This lack of social and environmental responsibility in construction companies is unfortunately also a reality in Brazil. However, surveillance and monitoring of CDW production and disposal may not be the solution to combat clandestine landfill, as demonstrated in the study of Tsiliyannis et al. (2019), conducted in Athens, Greece. Environmental education and good practice are the best weapons we have in environmental management, and adequate CDW management requires a change in the behavior and attitude of each citizen (Mak et al., 2019). The studies conducted in the present investigation sought to define the current model of CDW management in the construction sites of the city of Manaus, its advantages and disadvantages, in order to verify the possibility of implementing a Circular Economy system (Farooque et al., 2019). This system could result in cost savings in civil construction and in the reduction of negative environmental impacts caused by the illegal disposal in clandestine landfills, which harms the lives of the citizens of the city of Manaus and the surrounding environment, the Amazon rainforest itself. Circular Economy CDW management systems have already been implemented in European cities (Fratini et al., 2019; Kravchenko et al., 2019), so why not extend this practice to cities in Latin America, which are also affected by the environmental and financial impacts of inadequate waste management on urban construction sites. In order to implement a Circular Economy model, construction companies must be adequately involved in this system, for example through the promotion of sharing and renting equipment, customers access and involvement, or the redesign of a product in order to make it more durable and easier to reassemble if repair is needed (Kravchenko et al., 2019). Scientific initiatives to develop new materials using CDW raw materials are very important for the sustainability of CDW management, such as ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) which uses a fraction of waste together with natural sand (Wang et al., 2019). Technological developments are of the utmost importance in the process of improving environmental management in a Circular Economy model: digital networks and robotics are increasingly inserted in the context of environmental management, accompanying the development of the new “Industry 4.0” in the manufacturing sector (Sarc et al., 2019). Although the Circular Economy model is not yet implemented in Brazil, good practice initiatives are encouraged, as the one described in this paper regarding CDW waste management in constructions sites in the city of Manaus through the use of start-up technologies like mobile applications. These have an exponentially growing market worldwide, demonstrated by the increasing use of mobile applications running on smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices (Kaur & Kaur, 2019). The main objective of this research is to enhance adequate environmental management in construction sites through the development of a mobile application for CDW management. This tool can be used by construction companies, waste disposal companies, and even urban citizens who need to dispose construction waste.
- Um algoritmo para dimensionamento de ciclonesPublication . Maurício, Pedro; Silva, Pedro; Fonseca, Ana; Duarte, PedroOs ciclones são instrumentos de separação gás-sólido, largamente utilizados na indústria. O seu dimensionamento resulta da conjugação de diversas variáveis que afectam a performance deste equipamento, muitas vezes através de um processo iterativo baseado na experiência do executante, com alguma subjectividade associada. Neste estudo desenvolveu-se um algoritmo de dimensionamento automático de ciclones que permite obter resultados fiáveis, optimizando as dimensões e o número de ciclones e respectivas dimensões a partir de duas restrições – eficiência mínima de captura das partículas e perda de carga máxima do gás. Cyclones are gas-solid separation devices, largely used in industry. The cyclone design process is based on the combination of several variables that influence its performance. This is an iterative process dependent, most of the times, on individual experience. In this study, an algorithm was developed for automatic cyclone designing, which has produced reproducible results, optimizing the dimensions and the number of cyclones given two limiting conditions – minimum particle capture efficiency and maximum head loss.
- Ciclones de recirculação: aplicação à lavagemPublication . Fonseca, Ana; Salcedo, Romualdo; Orfão, José; Chibante, Vânia; yesThe main purpose of this research project is to study at a laboratory-scale the application of recirculating cyclones to the dry scrubbing of acid gases using solid particles of Ca(OH)2. A new system will be used, based on the combination of very high efficiency reverse-flow cyclones with a straight-through cyclone concentrator, which will simultaneously remove the injected solid particles and promote their partial recirculation. The possibility of dryscrubbing of acid gases in recirculating cyclones seems very promising: if the expectations are confirmed, this is a low cost technology, highly efficient both for the dry-scrubbing of acid gases and for the removal of particulate pollutants. O projecto de investigação aqui apresentado tem como principal objectivo o estudo, à escala laboratorial, da aplicação de ciclones de recirculação à lavagem de gases ácidos com partículas sólidas de Ca(OH)2. O equipamento utilizado é um sistema inovador, baseado na combinação de um ciclone de fluxo invertido de muito elevada eficiência com um ciclone concentrador de passo simples, que simultaneamente remove as partículas sólidas e promove a sua recirculação parcial. A possibilidade de efectuar a lavagem de gases ácidos neste tipo de equipamento parece deveras promissora: a confirmarem-se as expectativas, estamos perante uma tecnologia de baixo custo e altamente eficiente quer para a lavagem a seco de gases ácidos como para o despoeiramento do gás.
- Indoor air quality in healthcare units - a systematic literature review focusing recent researchPublication . Fonseca, Ana; Abreu, Isabel; Guerreiro, Maria João; Barros, NelsonThe adequate assessment and management of indoor air quality in healthcare facilities is of utmost importance for patient safety and occupational health purposes. This study aims to identify the recent trends of research on the topic through a systematic literature review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology. A total of 171 articles published in the period 2015–2020 were selected and analyzed. Results show that there is a worldwide growing research interest in this subject, dispersed in a wide variety of scientific journals. A textometric analysis using the IRaMuTeQ software revealed four clusters of topics in the sampled articles: physicochemical pollutants, design and management of infrastructures, environmental control measures, and microbiological contamination. The studies focus mainly on hospital facilities, but there is also research interest in primary care centers and dental clinics. The majority of the analyzed articles (85%) report experimental data, with the most frequently measured parameters being related to environmental quality (temperature and relative humidity), microbiological load, CO2 and particulate matter. Non-compliance with the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality is frequently reported. This study provides an overview of the recent literature on this topic, identifying promising lines of research to improve indoor air quality in healthcare facilities.
- Análise de uma estratégia universitária na adaptação aos requisitos de BolonhaPublication . Fonseca, Ana; Manso, M. Conceição; Vasconcelos, José Braga de; Tuna, SandraO Processo de Bolonha implicou, a nível Europeu, alterações em todas as instituições de ensino superior. Neste artigo analisa-se a estratégia de adaptação seguida pela Universidade Fernando Pessoa, tanto ao nível institucional como pedagógico. Inclui-se também a percepção que a comunidade académica teve ao fim de dois anos lectivos da efectiva implementação do referido Processo. A análise permite concluir que, pese embora a necessidade/possibilidade de melhorar/optimizar os métodos e estratégias aplicados, o balanço até ao momento é francamente positivo. The Bologna process has involved a lot of changes in all European institutions of higher education. The present article analyses the strategy adopted by Universidade Fernando Pessoa in this process, which implied both institutional and pedagogical reforms. It also includes the perception of the academic community regarding this new system, two years after its implementation. It is possible to conclude that, even though there is room and need for improvement in both the methods and strategies adopted, the result is clearly favourable.
- Strategic sustainability integration: merging management tools to support business model decisionsPublication . Silvestre, Winston Jerónimo; Fonseca, Ana; Morioka, Sandra NaomiDespite the competitive advantages of sustainable business models, developing management solutions to systematically support sustainability integration into organizational strategy is still a challenging approach for most organizations. Based on a critical analysis of existing tools to support sustainable business models, the present paper describes the development of a practical management tool to guide the strategic integration of sustainability in organizational business models. The proposed management tool results from the synergistic combination of the Sustainable Value Exchange Matrix and the Integrative Sustainable Intelligence Model, in a cyclic and continuous process supported by the periodic diagnosis of the key organizational factors with relevance for successful sustainability integration processes. The management tool described in this paper is expected to guide the strategic adaptation of organizations toward results with a positive impact on sustainability, with an effective contribution to the development of more sustainable business models.
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