Technical Inspection and Intervention Proposals for The Rehabilitation of a Multifamily Housing Building of the Decade of 60 of Last Century in Portugal

The Portuguese housing park, especially in what concerns to older buildings, is very degraded due to the lack of maintenance over the years, resulting in the depopulation of many historical centres of the country. The specialists usually characterize the housing park in different construction times, being based on the regulation and the implementation of different trends and technological evolutions in construction. In Portugal, the 60's decade of the twentieth century stands out by the construction of a significant number of multifamily residential buildings with a resistant reticulated structure and without concerns from the point of view of thermal behaviour. In this work, the case study of a multifamily building of the construction period mentioned previously, located in the city of Covilhã, in central Portugal, is presented. The analysis of the case study is divided into two main stages: technical inspection of the building and identification of intervention proposals based on the analysis of detected constructive fragilities. In the first phase of the study a technical inspection sheet adapted to multifamily buildings was created and applied, accompanied by a survey of the residents, in order to know the occupancy conditions, the sensitivity and the expectations about intervention. In addition, a thermal analysis was carried out with the support of thermography, data analysis of temperature and relative humidity measurements performed at certain periods of time and thermal quality evaluation based on the calculation methodologies for the energy certification of fractions. After analysing all the elements registered in the first phase of the case study, it was possible to propose duly substantiated intervention measures with the main concern of creating better access, use and comfort conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribución al Atlas Polínico de la Flora Ornamental de Interés Apícola en las Islas Canarias, España

XV lnternational A.P.L.E. Symposium of Palynolog

HABITATS CHARACTERIZATION IN THE TARATIBU, QUIRIMBAS NATIONAL PARK-PNQ, ANCUABE DISTRICT, MOZAMBIQUE

ABSTRACT: Taratibu was recently declared as a key biodiversity area (KBA) and knowledge on its habitats is very important for the conservation of this area. The present study aimed to identify and describe the main habitats from Taratibu, in PNQ, in order to improve knowledge on its characteristics. For this, techniques of transect, point-square and point-quadrant were used for the vegetation survey and the abiotic parameters of each habitat were determined. Five habitats were described: closed seasonal riparian habitat of Siphonochilus and Rawsonia, with dominance of  Rawsonia lucida, whose IVI was 14%, humid soil, maximum temperatures of 26º C and with 89% canopy cover; semi-closed deciduous forest habitat of Bamboo and Milletia, with dominance of the  Milletia stuhlmannii species, whose IVI was 42%, humid soil, maximum temperatures of 28º C and with 73% canopy cover; open mountain habitat, vellozio-euphorbiaceae-Inselberg, with dominance of the Xerophyta argentea species, whose IVI was 38%, reasonable and dry soil, maximum temperatures of 30ºC and with 0% of tree canopy cover; semi-open Miombo deciduous forest habitat, with dominance of the  Julbernadia globiflora species, whose IVI was 18%, dry soil, maximum temperatures of 28ºC and with 36% canopy cover; and closed Pouteria rain forest habitat, dominated by the Pouteria pseudoracemosa species, whose IVI was 30%, wet soil, maximum temperatures of 28ºC and with 88% canopy cover. Keywords: vegetation; parameters; temperature; soil; luminosity.   Caracterização de habitats na concessão de Taratibu, Parque Nacional das Quirimbas-PNQ, Distrito de Ancuabe, Moçambique   RESUMO: Taratibu foi declarado recentemente com uma área chave de biodiversidade (KBA) e o conhecimento dos seus habitats é de extrema importância para a sua conservação. O presente estudo teve como objetivo descrever os principais habitats existente em Taratibu-PNQ, com vista a conhecer as suas caraterísticas. Para tal foram utilizadas, técnicas de   transeto, ponto-quadrante e quadrados pontuais para o levantamento da vegetação e foram determinados os parâmetros abióticos de cada habitat. Foram descritos 5 habitats, designadamente: habitat fechado ribeirinho sazonal de Siphonochilus e Rawsonia, com dominância da espécie Rawsonia lucida, cujo IVI foi de 14%, solo húmido, temperaturas máximas de 26º C e com 89% de cobertura de dossel; habitat semi-fechado de floresta caduca de Bambu e Milletia, com dominância da espécie Milletia stuhlmannii, cujo IVI foi de 42%, solo húmido, temperaturas máximas de 28º C e com 73% de cobertura de dossel; habitat aberto de montanha, vellozio-euphorbiaceae- Inselberg, com dominância da espécie Xerophyta argentea, cujo IVI foi de 38%, solo razo e seco, temperaturas máximas de 30ºC e com 0% de cobertura de dossel arboreo; habitat de floresta caduca semi-aberta de Miombo, com dominância da espécie Julbernadia globiflora, cujo IVI foi de 18%, solos seco, temperaturas máximas de 28ºC e com 36% de cobertura de dossel e habitat fechado de floresta Pluvial de Pouteria, dominado pela  espécie Pouteria pseudoracemosa, cujo IVI foi de 30%, solo húmido, temperaturas máximas de 28ºC e com 88% de cobertura de dossel. Palavras-chave: vegetação; parâmetros; temperatura; solo; luminosidade

The abundance and excitation of molecular anions in interstellar clouds

We report new observations of molecular anions with the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m telescopes toward the cold dense clouds TMC-1 CP, Lupus-1A, L1527, L483, L1495B, and L1544. We detected for the first time C3N- and C5N- in Lupus-1A and C4H- and C6H- in L483. In addition, we report new lines of C6H- toward the six targeted sources, of C4H- toward TMC-1 CP, Lupus-1A, and L1527, and of C8H- and C3N- in TMC-1 CP. Excitation calculations indicate that the lines of anions accessible to radiotelescopes run from subthermally excited to thermalized as the size of the anion increases, with the degree of departure from thermalization depending on the H2 volume density and the line frequency. We noticed that the collision rate coefficients available for the radical C6H cannot explain various observational facts, which advises for a revisitation of the collision data for this species. The observations presented here, together with observational data from the literature, are used to model the excitation of interstellar anions and to constrain their abundances. In general, the anion-to-neutral ratios derived here agree within 50 % (a factor of two at most) with literature values, when available, except for the C4H-/C4H ratio, which shows higher differences due to a revision of the dipole moment of C4H. From the set of anion-to-neutral abundance ratios derived two conclusions can be drawn. First, the C6H-/C6H ratio shows a tentative trend in which it increases with increasing H2 density, as expected from theoretical grounds. And second, it is incontestable that the higher the molecular size the higher the anion-to-neutral ratio, which supports a formation mechanism based on radiative electron attachment. Nonetheless, calculated rate coefficients for electron attachment to the medium size species C4H and C3N are probably too high and too low, respectively, by more than one order of magnitude.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Detection of the Ammonium Ion in Space

We report on the detection of a narrow feature at 262816.73 MHz towards Orion and the cold prestellar core B1-bS, that we attribute to the 1(0)-0(0) line of the deuterated Ammonium ion, NH3D+. The observations were performed with the IRAM 30m radio telescope. The carrier has to be a light molecular species as it is the only feature detected over 3.6 GHz of bandwidth. The hyperfine structure is not resolved indicating a very low value for the electric quadrupolar coupling constant of Nitrogen which is expected for NH3D+ as the electric field over the N nucleus is practically zero. Moreover, the feature is right at the predicted frequency for the 1(0)-0(0) transition of the Ammonium ion, 262817(6) MHz (3sigma), using rotational constants derived from new infrared data obtained in our laboratory in Madrid. The estimated column density is 1.1(0.2)e12 cm-2. Assuming a deuterium enhancement similar to that of NH2D, we derive N(NH4+) sim 2.6e13 cm-2, i.e., an abundance for Ammonium of a few 1e(-11).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters 04 June 201

Anthropogenic food subsidies reshape the migratory behaviour of a long-distance migrant

Bird migratory journeys are often long and hostile, requiring high energetic expenditure, and thus forcing birds to pause between migratory flights. Stopover sites allow migrants to replenish fuel reserves and rest, being crucial for the success of migration. Worldwide, the increasing accumulation of waste on landfills and rubbish dumps has been described to provide superabundant food resources for many bird species not only during the breeding and wintering seasons but also during migration, being used as stopover sites. Using GPS-tracking data of juvenile white storks (Ciconia ciconia) during their first migration from the Iberia Peninsula to the sub-Saharan wintering grounds, we uncover the effects of stopping en route on individual migratory perfor-mance. Particularly, we examine the benefits of stopping at artificial sites (landfills and rubbish dumps) when com-pared to natural stopover sites (wetlands, agricultural or desert areas) and explore the influence of anthropogenic food resources on storks' migratory strategies. Overall, white storks spent up to one-third of the migration in stopovers. We found that birds that stopped for longer periods made more detours, increasing migration duration by half a day for each stopover day. Stopping more often did not reflect on increasing in-flight energetic efficiency nor the likelihood of completing the migration. Juvenile storks used artificial sites in 80 % of the stopover days, spending 45 % less time and 10 % less energy foraging than when using natural stopovers. While stopping in landfills did not translate into differences in migratory performance, individuals in poor body condition possibly rely on these sites to improve body weight before proceed-ing, enabling them to successfully complete migration. Artificial stopover sites are attractive and likely increase the number and duration of stops for white storks. Even though the consequences of arriving late at the wintering grounds are unknown, it can lead to cascading consequences, influencing individual fitness and population dynamics.Peer reviewe