Physical Connectivity Between the NE Atlantic Seamounts

Within the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone, the Great Meteor and Madeira-Tore complexes are highly productive areas, which are likely to be classified as marine protected areas (MPAs) due to their ecological vulnerability. This was the main focus of the BIOMETORE project and, framed on it, the aim of the present study was to investigate the physical connectivity between both seamount complexes. Using the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model coupled with the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) (a Lagrangian tool), a series of experiments was conducted in order to determine the influence of the main oceanographic phenomena governing the area in: (i) the origin of the particles that reach each complex, (ii) their capacity to capture and retain incoming particles, and (iii) the physical connectivity between them as well as the intra-connectivity within each seamount system. Due to the geographical location of both groups of seamounts, the Azores Current (AzC) and its associated eddies were identified as the main transport pathways, its influence being stronger at intermediate waters and decreasing with depth. Notwithstanding, the Great Meteor and the MadeiraTore were mainly affected by the AzC southward and eastward branches, respectively, resulting in a non-significant connectivity between the two groups. Meanwhile, the inter-connectivity between seamounts slightly varied with depth at the Great Meteor complex while increasing at Madeira-Tore. In addition, the Plateau, Irving, and Cruiser (PIC) seamounts from the Great Meteor complex and Gorringe and Coral from the Madeira-Tore complex proved to incorporate the regional connectivity routes. Although containing the three smallest seamounts, Madeira-Tore showed the higher capturing capacity per square kilometer, highlighting the influence of the "sticky water effect." In the Great Meteor complex, the "seamount effect" seems to be the main phenomenon responsible for the greater retention and self-recruitment abilities of these seamounts. The presented results provide valuable information for the design of a MPA to preserve these vulnerable habitat

Learning based on interdisciplinary projects with students from several engineering courses: case study on energy sustainability

The study of environmental and energy issues are as important as the specific disciplines of engineering courses. Within this context, the Environmental Sciences course provided the students an analysis of the relationship between the specific disciplines of their courses with relevant environmental issues, using the Project-Based Learning Methodology. Students were sorted into teams of ten from different Engineering courses and encouraged to create a project with feasible solutions for economy of energy and use of more sustainable energy sources. As a result, three projects were proposed: 1. Development of an application where the consumers can analyze their electricity consumption and the best way to save it, using mobile platforms like Android®, IOS® and Windows Phone®. 2. "Recharge your ideas": project for the installation of an individual photovoltaic system, which is an individual and non-interconnected electrical energy generating system, in order to provide clean and sustainable energy in a safe and satisfactory way at the University campus. 3. "Low cost solar heater": developed to serve lowincome rural communities. A prototype was made to estimate all necessary costs to make it and what would be the return in economy for the residences. With the development of these projects, it is perceived that interdisciplinarity is fundamental to the understanding of the themes developed, requiring the effort of students and teachers from the most diverse areas of engineering. The solution to most of the current problems in different areas of knowledge requires a more effective dialogue between disciplines and between professionals towards more adequate and self-sustainable solutions. To the students in particular, these activities promoted a practical experience and theoretical approach of different processes of Science and Technology and the opportunity to act in the solution of problems based on the knowledge acquired in the course in the resolution of real environmental and energy problems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Team-based learning in an engineering course: An experience in Brazil

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is an active learning strategy, used for the first time in medical education, and its use in Engineering Education is still not well established as in health science education. This work is about an experience of use of TBL in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018) in undergraduate Engineering course in a public university in Brazil. The objectives are to describe an experience using TBL, its impact over students' performance and perception of students and teacher about this approach. Initially, students were divided into groups from 5 to 7 members. The subject of the courses was divided into 4 modules, each one of 4 weeks. Each module started with the Readiness Assurance Process - RAP (pre-class individual assignment, e.g. readings), followed by in-class Individual Readiness Assurance Test - iRAT, and Team Readiness Assurance Test - tRAT. Both tests were applied using Information Technology tools, in this case either Socrative, or Kahoot or Plickers. During classes, students performed activities designed to develop students' critical thinking skills, applying concepts learned from RAP. Moreover, the students had to perform processes of self and peer-assessment. Average scores from the RAP were statistically higher in tRAT (group tests) than in iRAT (individual tests) (t-test; p≤0.05), in both years, indicating that teamwork and peer-instruction were important to achieve a greater understanding of the subject. The perception of the students about TBL was collected by an end of class questionnaire. For 81% of the students, TBL methodology was better than teacher centred classes. Another point to be highlighted was the use of Information Technology tools for feedback, approved by 100% of the students who answered the inquiry. As suggestions for future improvements emerged the need to improve the didactic material for pre-class studies.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UIDCEC003192019

Kinetics of odorant compounds in wine brandies aged in different systems

The odorants compounds of aged wine brandies comprise compounds deriving from the wood, from the distillate and from the reactions that occur inside the barrel. The aim of this work was to study the kinetics of the odorant compounds of a wine brandy during two years of ageing in two ageing systems. The odorant compounds in the analysed brandies changed significantly over the time, but with different evolution patterns. The wood related compounds increased over time, with the highest increase in the first months of ageing. The kinetics of cis, trans-b-methyl-c-octalactone, acetovanillone and of seven volatile phenols are established for the first time in brandies. Moreover, a significant effect of the ageing system was found on the kinetics of the wood related compounds. These results pointed out the interest of these compounds as a tool to discriminate different ageing technologiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modeling Fine-Scale Cetaceans’ Distributions in Oceanic Islands : Madeira Archipelago as a Case Study

Species distributional estimates are an essential tool to improve and implement effective conservation and management measures. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate distributional estimates remains a challenge in many cases, especially when looking at the marine environment, mainly due to the species mobility and habitat dynamism. Ecosystems surrounding oceanic islands are highly dynamic and constitute a key actor on pelagic habitats, congregating biodiversity in their vicinity. The main objective of this study was to obtain accurate fine-scale spatio-temporal distributional estimates of cetaceans in oceanic islands, such as the Madeira archipelago, using a long-term opportunistically collected dataset. Ecological Niche Models (ENM) were built using cetacean occurrence data collected on-board commercial whale watching activities and environmental data from 2003 to 2018 for 10 species with a diverse range of habitat associations. Models were built using two different datasets of environmental variables with different temporal and spatial resolutions for comparison purposes. State-of-the-art techniques were used to iterate, build and evaluate the MAXENT models constructed. Models built using the long-term opportunistic dataset successfully described distribution patterns throughout the study area for the species considered. Final models were used to produce spatial grids of species average and standard deviation suitability monthly estimates. Results provide the first fine-scale (both in the temporal and spatial dimension) cetacean distributional estimates for the Madeira archipelago and reveal seasonal/annual distributional patterns, thus providing novel insights on species ecology and quantitative data to implement better dynamic management actions.This study was supported by: (i) INTERTAGUA, MAC2/1.1.a/385 funded by MAC INTERREG 2014-2020, (ii) Oceanic Observatory of Madeira throughout the project M142001-0145-FEDER-000001-OOM, and (iii) Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2020 granted to MARE UI&I. AD and FA have grants funded by ARDITI-Madeira's Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation, throughout the project M1420-09-5369-FSE000002. RF was partially supported by a FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/147225/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Strain Evolution and Instability of an Anticyclonic Eddy From a Laboratory Experiment

Using the 13 m diameter LEGI-Coriolis rotating platform, the evolution processes of a generated anticyclonic eddy throughout its lifecycle are analyzed. Experimental results have shown that the eddy lasted for approximately 3T0, where T0 is the rotating period of 90 s. After T = 0.3T0, the eddy enters its mature phase, whereby following this event, eddy intensity slowly decreases from its maximum rotation speed. By T = 2.6T0, the eddy enters a stage of rapid weakening. In its decay period, two underlying mechanisms for this decay have been identified as inertial instability and eddy–eddy interactions

Wake response to an ocean-feedback mechanism: Madeira Island case study

This discussion focused on the numerical study of a wake episode. The Weather Research and Forecasting model was used in a downscale mode. The current literature focuses the discussion on the adiabatic dynamics of atmospheric wakes. Changes in mountain height and consequently on its relation to the atmospheric inversion layer should explain the shift in wake regimes: from a 'strong-wake' to a 'weak-wake' scenario. Nevertheless, changes in SST variability can also induce similar regime shifts. Increase in evaporation, contributes to increase convection and thus to an uplift of the stratified atmospheric layer, above the critical height, with subsequent internal gravity wave activity.Comment: Under review proces

Projeto LouMu - Muografia no Lousal

A viabilidade da muografia como técnica de sondagem tem sido demonstrada em diversos trabalhos ao redor do mundo, desde os seus primeiros passos. A muografia com muógrafos em ambiente subterrâneo tem um lado fácil devido à ausência da radiação de fundo, mas, por outro lado, o fluxo de muões é muito menor em comparação com o que é medido na superfície. É uma questão de condições geológicas e subterrâneas, detetores de muões adequados e o tempo de exposição necessário para realizar a observação. Para inovar o panorama dos métodos geofísicos em Portugal, foi estabelecida uma colaboração entre o Instituto de Ciências da Terra (ICT) – Universidade de Évora, o Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP) e o Centro Ciência Viva do Lousal. Esta colaboração reúne-se sob o Projeto LouMu, cujo propósito passa pelo desenvolvimento de telescópios de muões, a sua instalação no local da observação e consequente estudo do potencial da muografia, usando a Mina do Lousal como local de teste desta primeira aplicação. A Mina do Lousal (Faixa Piritosa Ibérica) foi explorada até 1988 e é hoje um excelente exemplo europeu de reabilitação ambiental e melhoria social com base em atividades museológicas, científicas e educativas. A galeria da mina Waldemar é a anfitriã das observações dos muões, cerca de 18 m abaixo da superfície. Os muógrafos, desenvolvidos pelo LIP, usam detetores RPC robustos para fazer a observação em tempo real. A aplicação tem o objetivo de fazer um reconhecimento geológico do terreno entre o nível da galeria e a superfície, contribuindo com novos dados para a informação geológica já existente, ao mesmo tempo em que se coloca à prova o desempenho dos detetores de muões e as ferramentas de análise muográfica. Outros métodos geofísicos, particularmente refração sísmica e radar de penetração no solo (GPR) estão sendo utilizados na superfície do terreno, cujos resultados somados a outras informações geológicas e geofísicas existentes serão utilizados para construir um modelo de referência 3D. O objetivo final é usar a muografia como técnica central, para através da observação do fluxo de muões reproduzir o modelo 3D de referência, como base para outras implementações de muografia