Fairness and Equity Implications for New Governance Mechanisms

Research in the field of Global Environmental Governance (GEG) pays considerable attention to the emergence of New Governance Mechanisms (NGM). This doesn't only mean the involvement of a growing number of non-state actors but also of new state actors, corresponding to new ways of participation. In this regard, NGM poses profound challenges to governments and institutions in the Developed and Developing world alike. This article seeks to advance the debates on GEG by analysing fairness and equity implications in participatory processes that led to the development of innovative governance mechanisms in Brazil, which may have influenced the elaboration of its intended Nationally Determined Contribution (iNDC). Given the fact that the social dimension is at the heart of Brazil’s climate adaptation and mitigation strategies and bearing in mind the need to institutionalize the protection of vulnerable from the negative effects of climate change and strength their resilience, a relevant aspect is evident. Brazil, as a transitional economy, could provide insights into environmental governance schemes as well as influence the policy-making process in others developing nations. We believe that existing local, regional and global governance mechanisms in Brazil, explore keyfactors associated with public perception, awareness, ethics, justice, innovation and risk management, which are ultimately important to address normative implications related to the climate negotiations and international relations as Brazil’s iNDC commits to strength the country’s adaptation capacity and proactively assess climate related risks. But how fairness and equity are really addressed in the country

Biomarkers: a strategic tool in the assessment of environmental quality of coastal waters

Ecosystems are under the pressure of complex mixtures of contaminants whose effects are not always simple to assess. Biomarkers, acting as early warning signals of the presence of potentially toxic xenobiotics, are useful tools for assessing either exposure to, or the effects of these compounds providing information about the toxicant bioavailability. In fact, it has been argued that a full understanding of ecotoxicological processes must consider an integrated multi-level approach, in which molecular impact is related with higher-order biological consequences at the individual, population and community levels. Monitoring programs should make use of this tool to link contaminants and ecological responses fulfilling strategies like those launched by OSPAR (Commissions of Oslo and Paris) Convention on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). An overview of the work done in the past few years using biomarkers as in situ tools for pollution assessment in Portuguese coastal waters is presented as a contribution to the set up of a biomonitoring program for the Portuguese coastal zone. Considering the data set available the biomonitoring proposal should include the analysis of biomarkers and effects at individual levels. The aim of the program will include a spatial and temporal characterization of the biomarkers acetyl-cholinesterase, metallothioneins, DNA damage, adenylate energy charge and scope-for-growth levels. The investigation of the spatial variation of biomarkers is crucial to define sites for long term monitoring, which will be integrated with a chemical monitoring program. This framework will be a major contribution to the implementation of a national database for the use of biomarkers along the Portuguese coast.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structural and optical properties of europium doped zirconia single crystals fibers grown by laser floating zone

Yttria stabilized zirconia single crystal fibers doped with europium ions were developed envisaging optical applications. The laser floating zone technique was used in order to grow millimetric high quality single crystal fibers. The as-grown fibers are completely transparent and inclusion free, exhibiting a cubic structure. Under ultraviolet (UV) excitation, a broad emission band appears at 551 nm. The europium doped fibers are translucent with a tetragonal structure and exhibit an intense red emission at room temperature under UV excitation. The fingerprint transition lines between the 5D0 and 7FJ(0–4) multiplets of the Eu3+ ions are observed with the main emission line at ∼ 606 nm due to 5D0→7F2 transition. Photoluminescence excitation and wavelength dependent the photoluminescence spectra confirm the existence of different Eu3+ optical centers. © 2011 American Institute of PhysicsFCT-PTDC/CTM/66195/2006FCT-SFRH/BD/45774/200

State anger and creative process engagement in organisational context

This paper presents a study on the impact of State Anger (SA) on Creative Process Engagement (CPE) on a daily basis in an organizational context. Applying a within-person perspective it examines the daily effect of SA on the CPE. It contemplates the role of moderators, such as: such as Emotion Regulation (ER) - Reappraisal (RE) and Suppression (SU); Work Engagement (WE); and High Effort Tasks (HET) in the relationship between SA and CPE. The sample in the study is of workers from two companies. Participants completed a general questionnaire and then a daily questionnaire for one working week.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Predicting effects of toxic events to anaerobic granular sludge with quantitative image analysis and principal component analysis

Detergents and solvents are included in the list of compounds that can be inhibitory or toxic to anaerobic digestion processes. Industrial cleaning stages/processes produce vast amounts of contaminated wastewater. In order to optimize the control of these wastewaters it is important to know and predict the effects on the activity and physical properties of anaerobic aggregates in an early stage. Datasets gathering morphological, physiological and reactor performance information were created from three toxic shock loads (SL1 – 1.6 mgdetergent/L; SL2 – 3.1 mgdetergent/L; SL3 – 40 mgsolvent/L). The use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) allowed the visualization of the main effects caused by the toxics, by clustering the samples according to its operational phase, exposure or recovery. The morphological parameters showed to be sensitive enough to detect the operational problems even before the COD removal efficiency decreased. Its high loadings in the plane defined by the first and second principal components, which gathers the higher variability in datasets, express the usefulness of monitor the biomass morphology in order to achieve a suitable control of the process. PCA defined a new latent variable t[1], gathering the most relevant variability in dataset, that showed an immediate variation after the toxics were fed to the reactors. t[1] varied 262, 254 and 80%, respectively in SL1, SL2 and SL3. Once more, the high weights of the morphological parameters associated with this new variable express its influence in shock load monitoring and control, and consequently in operational problems recognition

Applications of quantitative image analysis in wastewater treatment

Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010Quantitative image analysis (QIA) techniques gained an undeniable role in several fields of research during the last decade. In the field of wastewater treatment (WWT) processes, several computer applications were developed for the monitoring of microbial entities either individual cells, or several types of aggregates. New descriptors were defined that are more reliable, objective, and useful than the subjective and time-consuming parameters used classically to monitor the WWT biological processes. Examples of application include the objective prediction of filamentous bulking, known as one of the most problematical phenomenon occurring in activated sludge technology. It also demonstrated to be useful to classify protozoa and metazoa populations. In high rate anaerobic processes, based on granular sludge, it was possible to detect aggregation time and fragmentation phenomena during critical events, such as toxics and organic overloads. Currently, the major efforts on the development of QIA techniques in WWT technology are focused in its application coupled with coloured samples, obtained after staining and fluorescent techniques. Also, the use of quantitative morphological parameters in process control is being investigated. In fact, employ multivariate statistical analysis to data gathered by QIA during transient states of an anaerobic reactor determined a latent variable that encompasses a weighted sum of performance, physiological and morphological information. This new variable was highly sensitive to reactor efficiency deterioration, enclosing remarkable variation in the first hours of the disturbances. The high loadings raised by morphological parameters revealed that they should be considered to monitor and control load disturbances and toxic events in high rate anaerobic digesters