The reconstitution of road traffic accidents scenes is a contemporary and important issue, addressed both by private and public entities in different countries around the world. However, the task of collecting data on site is not generally focused on with the same orientation and relevance. Addressing this type of accident scenario requires a balance between two fundamental yet competing concerns: (1) information collecting, which is a thorough and lengthy process and (2) the need to allow traffic to flow again as quickly as possible. This technical note proposes a novel methodology that aims to support road traffic authorities/professionals in activities involving the collection of data/evidences of motor vehicle collision scenarios by exploring the potential of using low-cost, small-sized and light-weight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). A high number of experimental tests and evaluations were conducted in various working conditions and in cooperation with the Portuguese law enforcement authorities responsible for investigating road traffic accidents. The tests allowed for concluding that the proposed method gathers all the conditions to be adopted as a near future approach for reconstituting road traffic accidents and proved to be: faster, more rigorous and safer than the current manual methodologies used not only in Portugal but also in many countries worldwide.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors have emphasized a positive impact of their ERP projects in company performance and in costs reduction. Recently, some researchers have started to analyze the impact on business performance of the organizational changes that complement IT investments. This study attempts to analyze the impact of ERP implementations in the SMEs' number of employees and personnel costs. We have collected information of 168 Spanish SME during the period 1997-2005, concerning the type of purchased ERP, implementation period, number of employees, personnel costs and some financial indicators. We use two panel data models to compare and analyze the number of employees' evolution and the related personnel costs, before and after ERP implementations. Our preliminary findings suggest that as bigger the SME as lower will be the decrease its number of employees. On the other hand, ERP impacts positively in personnel costs. This trend to increase personnel costs can be explained in the sense that SMEs using an ERP system need people not only with specific operative skills but also with a very holistic approach to understand and obtain maximum benefits to the ERP system.
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