Relational contracting and its combination with the BIM methodology in mitigating asymmetric information problems in construction projects

Project management in the construction sector is a complex and uncertain process and companies tend to look for the lowest value in the procurement of services and materials. However, contractors do not share the necessary information with the contracted parties and thus give rise to the asymmetric information (AI) phenomenon. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis of the determining factors in the adoption of relational contracting (RC) in combination with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to reduce AI. The results of a questionnaire survey, which was e-mailed to 14 specialists with solid experience (over twenty years) and knowledge in construction projects, revealed that the probability of the AI phenomenon occurring in Portugal is very high, and its impact on construction projects is equally high. The results also show that RC in combination with the BIM methodology contributes very positively to the mitigation of AI problems in construction projects in Portugal. Approximately 85% of respondents consider that the government should seek to reduce AI in the public works sector through the use of RC and its combination with the BIM methodology in the Portuguese Public Contracts Code

Tehnologii eficiente energetic pentru producerea etanolului Din biomasă lignocelulozică

ABSTRACT: Currently, biofuels are the most significant alternative fuel aiming to provide clean power for transport, in case sustainable production technologies are employed. Due to the increased tendency of turning over the existing agricultural land to biofuel production, lignocellulosic feedstock is gaining increasing support against the use of first generation feedstock such as sugar cane, corn, wheat or sweet potatoes. However, despite the existing pilot plants, energy intensive technological processes like pretreatment and distillation, as well as high cost of enzymes, still prevent market roll-out of production facilities, extensive researches being conducted in order to find economically feasible alternatives. New close to market techniques, with improved performance in terms of energy and resources, are discussed: the relatively recent SPORL pretreatment, reported as the most effective in size-reduction energy consumption; pretreatment by means of extrusion - a technique in which biomass undergoes continuous mixing, heating and shearing, thus suffering physicochemical disintegration; energy saving pass-through distillation that performs at room temperature, which also offers indirect advantages like the possibility of yeasts and enzymes recovery, and simplified exploitation and maintenance of the distillation equipment. The above mentioned subjects are selected based on their reported performances as well as on their market potential and estimated technical and economic feasibility.REZUMAT: În prezent biocombustibilii reprezintă categoria cea mai importantă de combustibili alternativi, cu impact pozitiv asupra mediului în cazul în care tehnologiile de producţie a acestora sunt sustenabile. Datorită tendinţelor accentuate de utilizare a terenurilor agricole pentru culturi energetice, biomasa lignocelulozică a devinit tot mai atractivă în raport cu resursele de prima generaţie precum porumbul, grâul, cartoful, trestia de zahăr etc. Cu toate acestea, deşi există staţii pilot funcţionale pentru producerea de bioetanol lignocelulozic, costul ridicat al enzimelor sau consumurile energetice ridicate aferente unor procese precum pretratarea şi distilarea împiedică pătrunderea pe piaţă a acestor tehnologii. În consecinţă, cercetările din acest domeniu se orientează către identificarea unor soluţii fezabile economic. Articolul prezintă trei procese noi, performante din punct de vedere al necesarului de resurse, cu un bun potenţial de piaţă: metoda de pretratare SPORL, raportată ca fiind cea mai eficientă din punct de vedere al energiei consumate pentru mărunţirea biomasei; pretratarea continuă prin extrudare, în cadrul căreia biomasa este dezintegrată fizico-chimic printr-un proces de amestecare, încălzire şi strivire/forfecare mecanică; distilarea “pass-through” la temperatura camerei, cu avantaje precum consumul redus de energie, posibilitatea de reutilizare a enzimelor şi drojdiilor, sau uşurinţa în exploatare. Subiectele au fost selectate pe baza rapoartelor privind performanţele, potenţialul de piaţă şi fezabilitatea tehnico-economică

Partial Characterization of Biosurfactant from Lactobacillus pentosus and Comparison with Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate for the Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soil

The capability of a cell bound biosurfactant produced by Lactobacillus pentosus, to accelerate the bioremediation of a hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, was compared with a synthetic anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulphate SDS-). The biosurfactant produced by the bacteria was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) that clearly indicates the presence of OH and NH groups, C=O stretching of carbonyl groups and NH nebding (peptide linkage), as well as CH2–CH3 and C–O stretching, with similar FTIR spectra than other biosurfactants obtained from lactic acid bacteria. After the characterization of biosurfactant by FTIR, soil contaminated with 7,000 mg Kg−1 of octane was treated with biosurfactant from L. pentosus or SDS. Treatment of soil for 15 days with the biosurfactant produced by L. pentosus led to a 65.1% reduction in the hydrocarbon concentration, whereas SDS reduced the octane concentration to 37.2% compared with a 2.2% reduction in the soil contaminated with octane in absence of biosurfactant used as control. Besides, after 30 days of incubation soil with SDS or biosurfactant gave percentages of bioremediation around 90% in both cases. Thus, it can be concluded that biosurfactant produced by L. pentosus accelerates the bioremediation of octane-contaminated soil by improving the solubilisation of octane in the water phase of soil, achieving even better results than those reached with SDS after 15-day treatment.The authors wish to thank to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (projects CTM 2008-01608/TECNO and CTM2012-31873)S

Partitioning of bovine lactoferrin in aqueous two-phase system containing poly(ethylene glycol) and sodium citrate

The partitioning of the whey protein lactoferrin, which is an iron transporter glycoprotein, in an aqueous two-phase system composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and sodium citrate was evaluated. Equilibrium data at 25 °C were determined for each system studied using PEG with a molar mass of 1000 and 4000 g·mol1 at pH values of 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5. An increase in the molar mass of the polymer promoted the expansion of the two-phase region and caused the migration of the lactoferrin to the salt-rich bottom phase. An increase in pH also led to the expansion of the biphasic region. However, changing the pH over the tested range slightly affected protein partitioning. Lactoferrin recovery percentages greater than 94% were observed for all of the systems evaluated. The results indicated that lactoferrin can be successfully partitioned in an aqueous two-phase system formed of 14% (w/w) PEG and 10% (w/w) sodium citrate at pH 5.5 and 25 °C. The protein was concentrated 1000-fold in the salt-rich bottom phase in this system.Brazilian agencies FAPESB,CNPq, and FAPEMIG for their financial suppor

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammals in Portugal: a data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications

Floculação da levedura Kluyveromyces Marxianus : caracterização fisiológica e cinética

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Doutor, no Departamento de Engenharia Química da Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Prof. Dr. Manuel Mot

Floculação da levedura Kluyveromyces Marxianus : caracterização fisiológica e cinética

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Doutor, no Departamento de Engenharia Química da Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação do Prof. Dr. Manuel Mot