Spider diversity (Arachnida: Araneae) in Atlantic Forest areas at Pedra Branca State Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

BACKGROUND: There has never been any published work about the diversity of spiders in the city of Rio de Janeiro using analytical tools to measure diversity. The only available records for spider communities in nearby areas indicate 308 species in the National Park of Tijuca and 159 species in Marapendi Municipal Park. These numbers are based on a rapid survey and on an one-year survey respectively. NEW INFORMATION: This study provides a more thorough understanding of how the spider species are distributed at Pedra Branca State Park. We report a total of 14,626 spider specimens recorded from this park, representing 49 families and 373 species or morphospecies, including at least 73 undescribed species. Also, the distribution range of 45 species was expanded, and species accumulation curves estimate that there is a minimum of 388 (Bootstrap) and a maximum of 468 species (Jackknife2) for the sampled areas. These estimates indicates that the spider diversity may be higher than observed.Fil: Castanheira, Pedro. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Pérez González, Abel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Baptista, Renner L. C.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi

Estratégias de intervenção para a regeneração urbana sustentável

Este artigo irá fazer uma análise sobre a importância da utilização de indicadores de sustentabilidade para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de intervenção para a regeneração urbana das cidades portuguesas. O estudo, que faz parte da unidade curricular Dissertação de Mestrado em Construção e Reabilitação Sustentáveis, visa a elaboração de um manual de auxílio ao desenvolvimento de cidades mais sustentáveis, em resposta à ausência de um instrumento nacional que ajude a regeneração destas cidades, servindo de suporte a projetistas, arquitetos, urbanistas e entidades governamentais no processo de reabilitação urbana. Pretende-se com este estudo, também, colaborar para o desenvolvimento da ferramenta de avaliação de sustentabilidade SBToolPT para planeamento urbano, que servirá para futura avaliação de projetos de planeamento urbano ou regeneração urbana

Urban renovation of portuguese historical centres

Cities are ecosystems that consume a lot of energy and substance, as well as generate much waste and pollution. Concerns about waste and misuse of natural resources have led people and governments to think better about urban growth. Nowadays half of world population lives in cities, and it is expected a considerable increase over the next years in developing countries. Already in some European Union countries, which currently go through times of crisis, it is misunderstood the necessity of cities expansion. Portugal is one of these developed countries, with many historical cities and non-necessity of expansion, but a need for changes, which accompany the world development and their sustainable premises. The way cities in Portugal should evolve, goes through the sustainable renovation, whether urban or buildings. In the scope of sustainable rehabilitation as well as in the conception of sustainable projects, it is important to consider the, inevitably connected, environmental, social, economic and cultural aspects. The main objective of this paper is to discuss urban renovation, which should be resilient, should know how to add value to the environment where people live in, taking advantage of cities elements, through the technological evolution and rational use of natural resources, sustainable materials and techniques

Benefícios energéticos da construção em terra para habitações populares de Portugal

Neste momento em que os estados membros da União Europeia buscam formas de reduzir a utilização de recursos naturais e poupar o uso de energias, surgem algumas questões: as tecnologias usuais de construção trouxeram benefícios ou transformaram-se em técnicas consumidoras de recursos energéticos em prol da civilização. Será benéfico o retorno de técnicas tradicionais de construção como tentativa para facilitar o aparecimento de edifícios com emissão zero de carbono? Este artigo pretende demonstrar os possíveis benefícios energéticos da utilização da terra para construção de habitações populares em Portugal

The evolution of the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT: from buildings to the built environment

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population?s well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT is also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, the SBToolPT-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool

Defining best practices in sustainable urban regeneration projects

This paper aims at analysing three international sustainable urban regeneration projects. The analysis is based in the application of ten urban sustainability indicators from two sustainability assessment tools (Sustainable Building Tool for Urban Planning in Portugal - SBToolPT-UP and International Sustainable Building Tool for Urban Planning– SBTool Urban) that are being developed at national and international level, respectively. Through this analysis it is intend to define the best practices for sustainable urban design, which allows to define the benchmarks of both tools and to support designers in the processes of decision making which goal is to optimize the sustainability of new or regenerated urban areas

Estratégias de intervenção para a regeneração urbana sustentável

Este artigo irá fazer uma análise sobre a importância da utilização de indicadores de sustentabilidade para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de intervenção para a regeneração urbana sustentável das cidades portuguesas. O estudo, integrado num projeto de investigação coordenado pelo iiSBE Portugal e pelo Departamento de Engenharia Civil da Universidade do Minho, visa a elaboração de um manual de auxílio ao desenvolvimento de cidades mais sustentáveis, em resposta à ausência de um instrumento nacional que ajude a regeneração das cidades, servindo de suporte a projetistas, arquitetos, urbanistas e entidades governamentais no processo de reabilitação urbana. Adicionalmente, pretende-se com este estudo colaborar para o desenvolvimento da ferramenta de avaliação da sustentabilidade de operações de planeamento urbano do sistema SBToolPT, que servirá para suportar os projetistas no processo de projeto sustentável e avaliar a sustentabilidade de projetos de planeamento e/ou regeneração urbana.This paper is focused in the analysis of the importance of using sustainability indicators in the development of intervention strategies for urban sustainable regeneration of Portuguese cities. The study, which is part of a joint project between iiSBE Portugal and the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Minho, aims at developing a manual to support the development of more sustainable cities, in order to overcome the lack of a national instrument that promotes the regeneration of the cities by supporting the designers, architects, urban planners and government entities in the process of urban rehabilitation. Additionally it is intended to contribute for the development of a new tool for the sustainability assessment of urban planning projects, to be integrated in the SBToolPT system, which will be used to guide design teams in the process of sustainable design and to assess the sustainability of urban development and/or regeneration projects

The sdA problem - II. Photometric and Spectroscopic Follow-up

Subdwarf A star (sdA) is a spectral classification given to objects showing H-rich spectra and sub-main sequence surface gravities, but effective temperature lower than the zero-age horizontal branch. Their evolutionary origin is an enigma. In this work, we discuss the results of follow-up observations of selected sdAs. We obtained time resolved spectroscopy for 24 objects, and time-series photometry for another 19 objects. For two targets, we report both spectroscopy and photometry observations. We confirm seven objects to be new extremely-low mass white dwarfs (ELMs), one of which is a known eclipsing star. We also find the eighth member of the pulsating ELM class.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 19 pages, 30 figures, 6 table

Risk assessment methodology in wastewater safety plans. A case study

Na prossecução dos objetivos do milénio da ONU, o aumento e melhoraria do acesso a sistemas de saneamento básico seguros e sustentáveis continuam a ser uma prioridade de intervenção crítica e essencial para salvaguarda da saúde humana e qualidade de vida das populações. O desenvolvimento, implementação e monitorização de Planos de Segurança, aplicados às diferentes fases do ciclo urbano da água, são uma estratégia crucial, recomendada pela OMS, para prevenção, análise e mitigação do risco associado a perigos e eventos perigosos com impacto nocivo na saúde pública e no meio ambiente. O objectivo deste trabalho é dar um contributo metodológico para a análise do risco em Planos de Segurança de Águas Residuais (PSAR), por meio quer da formulação de um novo método semiquantitativo de avaliação do risco em PSAR e sua aplicação a um caso de estudo, quer de uma abordagem integrada do sistema de saneamento, incluindo as suas interações com a respectiva bacia hidrográfica. Concluiu-se que o nível e tipologia do risco dependem da abrangência geográfica da bacia hidrográfica considerada, a qual influencia não só a diversidade dos perigos e eventos perigosos identificados, mas também a definição das medidas de controle do risco a implementar, resultantes da necessária abordagem de barreiras múltiplas, no sentido de eliminar ou minimizar os riscos para os diversos utilizadores e operadores de um sistema urbano de águas residuais.In pursuit of the UN's millennium goals, increasing and improving access to safe and sustainable sanitation systems remains a critical intervention priority to safeguard human health, life quality and population wellness. The development, implementation and monitoring of Safety Plans, applied to the different sections of the urban water cycle, is a crucial strategy, recommended by WHO, for the prevention, analysis and risk mitigation due to hazards and dangerous events with a harmful impact on public health and the environment. This work intends to make a methodological contribution for risk analysis in Wastewater Safety Plans (WWSP), through a comprehensive approach to the full sanitation system, including its catchment watershed interaction, and the proposal of a new semi-quantitative risk assessment method applied to a case study. It was concluded that the risk level and typology depends on the geographical scope of the considered watershed, which significantly influences not only the diversity of identified hazards and dangerous events, but also the definition of risk control measures to be implemented, arising from a multiple barriers approach, in order to provide a risk mitigation for the several wastewater system users and operator

The pulsating DA white dwarf star EC 14012-1446: results from four epochs of time-resolved photometry

The pulsating DA white dwarfs are the coolest degenerate stars that undergo self-driven oscillations. Understanding their interior structure will help to understand the previous evolution of the star. To this end, we report the analysis of more than 200 h of time-resolved CCD photometry of the pulsating DA white dwarf star EC 14012-1446 acquired during four observing epochs in three different years, including a coordinated three-site campaign. A total of 19 independent frequencies in the star's light variations together with 148 combination signals up to fifth order could be detected. We are unable to obtain the period spacing of the normal modes and therefore a mass estimate of the star, but we infer a fairly short rotation period of 0.61 +/- 0.03 d, assuming the rotationally split modes are l=1. The pulsation modes of the star undergo amplitude and frequency variations, in the sense that modes with higher radial overtone show more pronounced variability and that amplitude changes are always accompanied by frequency variations. Most of the second-order combination frequencies detected have amplitudes that are a function of their parent mode amplitudes, but we found a few cases of possible resonantly excited modes. We point out the complications in the analysis and interpretation of data sets of pulsating white dwarfs that are affected by combination frequencies of the form f_A+f_B-f_C intruding into the frequency range of the independent modes.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables. MNRAS, in pres