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The use of virtual reality for product assembly has been studied for more than 20 years; however its practical application in industry is still very much in its infancy. Haptics is a new and important interaction method for virtual reality, and currently constitutes a strong and growing research area; however despite this, its application in industry still remains virtually unknown. This paper seeks to address this issue.

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the topics of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables, and investigates some new ideas and recent advances in the area. The survey work has been divided into two parts: addressing rigid parts and soft cables. The main focus of part two, the present work, concentrates on virtual reality and haptics for soft cable design and assembly.

In the first instance, the main research groups and typical systems are investigated, followed by extensive exploration of the major research issues. The latter can be reviewed from three perspectives: geometry modelling, physical modelling and haptics interaction. Finally, the barriers that prevent successful application of virtual assembly are also discussed, and the future research directions are summarized.

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the topics of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables, and investigates some new ideas and recent advances in the area.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

This chapter addresses the profession of research management and administration (RMA) in Portugal. It starts with a brief outline of the national research and innovation (R&I) ecosystem that contextualises the development of the profession. The RMA community is characterised and the expectations for the future of the RMA profession are summarised using data collected through a national online survey. It is posited that RMA in Portugal is an emergent career having developed key traits of a profession, namely common interests and practices, a concern with deepening specialised knowledge and skills, the existence of an organised network of practitioners, the offer of academic qualifications and training in the area, and the integration in international RMA communities of practice. Nevertheless, future developments in the European Research Area (ERA) are identified as a critical milestone that will influence the development and formal legislative institutionalisation of the RMA profession in Portugal.

The purpose of this research is to review literature about the performance assessment (PA) in urban fire departments (FDs) to gain state-of-the-art of the fire departments' performance assessment (FDPA) and identify its most applied methods and indicators.

A five-stage structured literature review (SLR) is conducted to review the FDPA-related studies; then, the statistical analysis is applied to reveal more information from the extracted data and design a general framework for FDPA.

The systematic literature review resulted in 336 independent variables for FDPA and finding the data envelopment analysis (DEA) as the most applied FDPA method among the mathematical and statistical models in the reviewed papers. By using analysis outcomes, a general conceptual framework for FDPA is proposed.

The reviewed studies were limited to assessments at the strategic level and urban fire protection services.

The results of this research can support fire protection service managers, decision-makers, PA researchers and academicians to have a better understanding of FDPA and state-of-the-art in this field.

A considerable number of studies have been done about the FDPA to provide methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of FDs. Although there are reviews about PA in fire service areas, to the best of our knowledge, no study has been done about FDPA.

Modelling has been a mainstay of conventional planning support tools (PSTs) since the 1960s and is instrumental in transport and land use planning decision-making. Numerous studies have been conducted to model the potential impacts of emerging vehicle automation and sharing technologies. A systematic review of recent modelling studies of autonomous and shared vehicles in the research literature examines the extent of their contribution to ‘smart’ mobility knowledge. The findings suggest a limited knowledge base from which to support future planning. PSTs that can offer more pluralistic, discursive, and transparent methods in order to understand and proactively shape a transition to a planned urban future are also needed.

This paper proposes an evaluation approach for analyzing excellence management practices at a regional level based on experts’ assessment.

Using the National Quality Foundation’s Management Excellence Model (MEG), 19 management excellence practices were identified and tailored for small- and medium-sized industries (SMIs). Data were collected through a survey with 25 experts who assessed these practices in the context of Brazilian manufacturing SMIs. The analysis utilized Fuzzy TOPSIS Class (FTC), and a sensitivity analysis was also conducted.

The proposed evaluation approach integrates a reference model for management excellence (MEG), an analysis method incorporating uncertainty (FTC), and results that enable decision-makers to make well-informed choices. Of the 19 practices assessed, 15 were classified as “unacceptable,” while four were rated as “regular,” and none as “expected.” Key challenges relate to practices in information security, knowledge, innovation and change management.

The study’s primary limitation is the use of non-probabilistic sampling and its focus on the Brazilian context. However, the extensive knowledge and experience of the experts in manufacturing SMIs and the need for studies addressing specific regional contexts should be noted.

The findings reveal a significant gap between ideal management practices and the actual state of SMIs, especially in emerging markets.

This research introduces a novel approach that combines a reference model tailored for SMIs with a multicriteria decision-making method, offering valuable insights for decision-makers and guiding future research.

The Spain–Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program launched the “Espomar” project in 2017, with the aim of designing a sustainable and transboundary maritime transport system in the Gulf of Cádiz, which includes the Spanish provinces of Cádiz (its Atlantic coast) and Huelva, together with the Portuguese region of the Algarve. This chapter limits the scope to the Algarve-Huelva connection and the resident population demand. The findings suggest a maritime connection defined and marketed as part of leisure activities. The demand for potential tourism packages created around boat trips appears to be promising. The sun beach, gastronomy wine and culture landscape vectors are the main attractors.

The goal of this work is to create a computational finite element model to perform thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) with the usage of a non-ideal load frequency, containing the effects of the material thermal properties.

Throughout this document, the methodology of the model is presented first, followed by the procedure and results. The last part is reserved to results, discussion and conclusions.

This work had the main goal to create a model to perform TSA with the usage of non-ideal loading frequencies, considering the materials’ thermal properties. Loading frequencies out of the ideal range were applied and the model showed capable of good results. The created model reproduced acceptably the TSA, with the desired conditions.

This work creates a model to perform TSA with the usage of non-ideal loading frequencies, considering the materials’ thermal properties.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between users’ perceived barriers to using virtual and augmented reality technology from stakeholders, identifying perspectives and gaps regarding technology acceptance.

The Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method is useful for quantitatively evaluating the causal relationship between factors. Combining this method with the grey approach ensures greater accuracy even with limited information. A Scoping Review was conducted to identify the barriers, and data were extracted from a questionnaire administered to experts in the field.

Seven diverse barriers were identified by users, and cause-and-effect relationships were estimated. The results indicate three primary causal barriers and three highly dependent barriers. One of the identified barriers is not relevant in this model.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies have been gaining popularity since 2018, allowing users to interact with a virtual environment. These technologies are primarily used in training and education areas. However, due to the innovative nature of the topic, there are a small number of studies on technology acceptance, especially in the Brazilian context. Therefore, this paper contributes to the literature and assists in applying technologies in industries.