How volunteered geographic information can be integrated into emergency management practice? : first lessons learned from an urban fire simulation in the city of Coimbra

In the past few years, volunteered geographic information (VGI) has emerged as a new resource for improving the management of emergencies. Despite the growing body of research dedicated to the use of VGI in crisis management, studies are still needed that systematically investigate the incorporation of VGI into practical emergency management. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a research design for investigating and planning the incorporation of VGI into work practices and decision-making of emergency agencies by means of simulation exercises. Furthermore, first lessons are drawn from a field study performed within a simulation exercise of an urban fire in Coimbra, Portugal, implemented together with local civil protection agents. Emergency management practitioners identified a high potential in the pictures taken in-situ by volunteers for improving situational awareness and supporting decision-making. They also pointed out to challenges associated to processing VGI and filtering high-value information in real-time

A Trypanosoma cruzi Small Surface Molecule Provides the First Immunological Evidence that Chagas' Disease Is Due to a Single Parasite Lineage

Chagas' disease is a major health and economic problem caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Multiple independently evolving clones define a complex parasite population that can be arranged into two broad genetic lineages termed T. cruzi I and II. These lineages have different evolutionary origin and display distinct ecological and biological traits. Here we describe a novel molecule termed TSSA for trypomastigote small surface antigen that provides the first immunological marker allowing discrimination between lineages. TSSA is a surface, glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchored mucin-like protein, highly antigenic during the infection. TSSA sequences from different parasite isolates reveal a population dimorphism that perfectly matches with the two T. cruzi lineages. Interestingly, this dimorphism is restricted to the central region of the molecule, which comprises the immunodominant B cell epitopes. This sequence variability has a major impact on TSSA antigenicity, leading to no immunological cross-reactivity between both isoforms for antibodies present either in immunization or infection sera. Furthermore, the absolute seroprevalence for TSSA in confirmed Chagasic patients is restricted to T. cruzi II isoform, strongly suggesting that human infections are due to this particular subgroup. Even though association of T. cruzi II with Chagas' disease has been proposed based on molecular markers, this is the first immunological evidence supporting this hypothesis. The implications of these results for the future research on Chagas' disease could be envisaged

Comercio, comerciantes y revolución en el Río de la Plata : Siglo XVIII - principios del siglo XIX

El objetivo de este texto es ordenar algunas preguntas que me hago en torno al lugar del comercio en la crisis de comienzos del siglo XIX en el Río de la Plata. Mucho se ha escrito sobre la aspiración al liberalismo económico por parte de un sector de la oligarquía rioplatense en tanto que una de las “causas” (para algunos la principal) de la revolución de independencia.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Comercio, comerciantes y revolución en el Río de la Plata : Siglo XVIII - principios del siglo XIX

El objetivo de este texto es ordenar algunas preguntas que me hago en torno al lugar del comercio en la crisis de comienzos del siglo XIX en el Río de la Plata. Mucho se ha escrito sobre la aspiración al liberalismo económico por parte de un sector de la oligarquía rioplatense en tanto que una de las “causas” (para algunos la principal) de la revolución de independencia.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Electrolysis with diamond anodes of the effluents of a combined soil washing – ZVI dechlorination process

In this work, a new soil washing process in which Soil-Liquid extraction technology is enhanced by adding iron particles (zero valent iron nanoparticles or granules) was investigated to remove clopyralid from spiked soils. This novel approach can be efficiently used to extract chlorinated hydrocarbons from soil and aims to obtain soil-washing wastes with low content of hazardous chlorinated species. The iron particles used were subsequently removed from the treated soil using magnetic fields. Then, the complete mineralization of the produced soil washing effluents was successfully achieved by applying anodic oxidation with diamond anodes in an electrochemical flow cell. Results demonstrated that, opposite to what it was initially expected, no improvements in the efficiency of the electrochemical process were observed by adding iron particles during the soil washing. This behavior is explained in terms of the lower electrochemical reactivity of the dechlorinated derivatives produced. Although results are not as promising as initially expected, it does not mean a completely negative outcome for the use of ZVI during washing, because the hazardousness of the pollutants is rapidly decreased in the initial stages of the soil-washing, opening the possibility for the combination of this technology with other processes, such as biological treatment

Integrating ZVI-dehalogenation into an electrolytic soil-washing cell

Combination into a single electrochemical reactor of soil washing, ZVI dehalogenation and anodic oxidation can be used to degrade directly the clopyralid contained in spiked soil. Treatment is efficient, achieving the complete removal of chlorinated organics as well as the complete mineralization of the liquid waste produced. However, this combined process does not seem to improve the efficiency with respect to a system operated without addition of iron. Results show that the dechlorinated intermediates formed are less reactive than the parent pollutants, being particularly important the formation of oxalic acid, because its combination with iron (II) helps to explain the decrease in the overall rate of mineralization. This negative impact on the efficiency of the electrochemical process is not completely undesirable, because the toxicity of the waste decreases importantly in the very early stages with the use of iron, opening the possibility of a combination with biological treatments. Again, the accumulation of oxalate intermediates helps to explain this conclusion. Results point out the important effect of the size of iron particles used on the treatment and the complexity of the mechanisms that develop in the cell, which are explained in terms of the different parameters monitored

Evaluation of no segmented taper models to estimate height and merchantable volume from Eucalyptus sp.stems

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar diferentes modelos de afilamento na estimativa da altura comercial, volume comercial e volumes ao longo do fuste de Eucalyptus sp. para a obten\ue7\ue3o de multiprodutos. Com base em dados de cubagem rigorosa de \ue1rvores-amostras com idade de 16 anos, foram avaliados os modelos de afilamento de Demaerschalk (1972), Ormerod (1973), Sch\uf6epfer (1966), Hradetzky (1976), Garay (1979) e Biging (1984). Baseado na an\ue1lise gr\ue1fica dos res\uedduos e nas estat\uedsticas bias (B), m\ue9dia das diferen\ue7as (MD) e desvio-padr\ue3o das diferen\ue7as (DPD), verificou-se que, para estimativa da altura comercial e do volume comercial os modelos de Biging, Sch\uf6epfer e Hradetzky apresentaram os melhores resultados, acompanhados do modelo de Garay que apresentou melhora consider\ue1vel para o volume comercial. De forma geral, nas condi\ue7\uf5es estudadas, o modelo de Biging apresentou maior estabilidade na estimativa dos volumes ao longo do fuste.This work aimed to evaluate different taper models in the estimate of the merchantable height and volume and along the bole volumes of Eucalyptus sp., to the obtention of multiproducts. Considering the data of rigorous scaling of trees of Eucalyptus sp. with 16 years-old, it was appraised the models of taper of Demaerschalk (1972), Ormerod (1973), Sch\uf6epfer (1966), Hradetzky (1976), Garay (1979) and Biging (1984). Based on graphical analysis of the residues and on the statistics bias (B), average of the differences (MD) and deviation pattern of the differences (DPD), it could be verified that, in the estimate of the merchantable height and volume of the models, Biging, Sch\uf6epfer and Hradetzky presented the best results, followed by the models of Garay, which have also shown good results. In general, considering the treatment of the volumes of the logs, the Biging model presented the best resuts