Assessing framing assumptions in quantitative health impact assessments: a housing intervention example.

Health impact assessment (HIA) is often used to determine ex ante the health impact of an environmental policy or an environmental intervention. Underpinning any HIA is the framing assumption, which defines the causal pathways mapping environmental exposures to health outcomes. The sensitivity of the HIA to the framing assumptions is often ignored. A novel method based on fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is developed to quantify the framing assumptions in the assessment stage of a HIA, and is then applied to a housing intervention (tightening insulation) as a case-study. Framing assumptions of the case-study were identified through a literature search of Ovid Medline (1948-2011). The FCM approach was used to identify the key variables that have the most influence in a HIA. Changes in air-tightness, ventilation, indoor air quality and mould/humidity have been identified as having the most influence on health. The FCM approach is widely applicable and can be used to inform the formulation of the framing assumptions in any quantitative HIA of environmental interventions. We argue that it is necessary to explore and quantify framing assumptions prior to conducting a detailed quantitative HIA during the assessment stage

Economic growth and employment: Regional disparities in the EU

One of the main problems of the European countries is their small capacity to generate employment. This is an important point because of the social and human problems that it produces, which are more serious in the case of the peripheral regions. In this paper, we make a comparative analysis of employment and economic growth among the EU and the main OECD countries. We study the reasons of the more reduced rates of employment in several EU countries in relation to USA and Japan. Then, we analyze the generation of employment in the European regions, specially in the peripheral ones which are the most affected by unemployment.

First record of the Mediterranean asteroid Sclerasterias richardi (Perrier in Milne-Edwards 1882) in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic Ocean)

The first occurrence of the Mediterranean fissiparous asteroid Sclerasterias richardi (Perrier in Milne-Edwards 1882) is reported from the Azores based upon dredged material off the south coast of São Miguel Island at 135 m depth. This record represents a considerable expansion of the species’ geographic range, otherwise reported with certainty only from the Mediterranean Sea. S. richardi is capable of producing long-lived planktotrophic larvae with high dispersal potential to reach remote areas such as the Azores. Alternatively, this species is also capable of reproducing asexually through fission, which could insure the maintenance of viable numbers in a stranded population. The presence of S. richardi in Azorean waters and its rarity in an otherwise thoroughly investigated area does not necessarily imply a recent arrival nor a human-mediated introduction, as the depths in consideration (80-700 m) are also the least studied in the archipelago.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Results for Channel Error Profiles for DECT

This letter presents the main statistical characterization of the underlying error process obtained in the case of the Digital European Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) radio system. By simulation of the transmission link, error sequences are generated for different channel parameters. Relevant statistics are then computed for the purpose of efficient channel coding design and evaluation

HeteroGenius: A Framework for Hybrid Analysis of Heterogeneous Software Specifications

Nowadays, software artifacts are ubiquitous in our lives being an essential part of home appliances, cars, cell phones, and even in more critical activities like aeronautics and health sciences. In this context software failures may produce enormous losses, either economical or, in the worst case, in human lives. Software analysis is an area in software engineering concerned with the application of diverse techniques in order to prove the absence of errors in software pieces. In many cases different analysis techniques are applied by following specific methodological combinations that ensure better results. These interactions between tools are usually carried out at the user level and it is not supported by the tools. In this work we present HeteroGenius, a framework conceived to develop tools that allow users to perform hybrid analysis of heterogeneous software specifications. HeteroGenius was designed prioritising the possibility of adding new specification languages and analysis tools and enabling a synergic relation of the techniques under a graphical interface satisfying several well-known usability enhancement criteria. As a case-study we implemented the functionality of Dynamite on top of HeteroGenius.Comment: In Proceedings LAFM 2013, arXiv:1401.056

Flores/89 - Dos Homens e da Natureza

IV Expedição Científica do Departamento de Biologia – Flores 1989.A direcção imprimida à investigação no Departamento de Biologia da Universidade dos Agores impõe um contacto contínuo com a Natureza. A estratégia de investigação no Departamento tem sido a de investir em áreas que, pela sua peculiaridade ou representatividade no Arquipélago, nos dêem a primazia do seu estudo e desenvolvimento. Por isso o Departamento investe na Ecologia, na Evolução, no Mar, na Luta Biológica. As nossas ilhas são laboratórios naturais, cobiçados por muitos cientistas ávidos de testar as suas teorias. Aqui, num clima ameno durante todo o ano graças à acção moderadora do mar, o que se aprendeu em terras de verão quente e inverno frio sofre modificações drásticas: seres sasonais reproduzem-se continuamente, plantas costeiras aparecem no cimo das montanhas, é verde durante todo o ano ... Aqui a evolução acontece e pode ser descoberta em cada pedra que se vira, sob cada folha que lentamente apodrece no solo. Nove ilhas, nove plataformas subindo acima da espuma das ondas em tempo diferente, foram outros tantos convites para colonizadores vagabundos de eras longínquas. Mas o que hoje vemos pode não corresponder ao que foi no princípio, e a nossa fortuna é termos mesmo à porta a chave que nos levará à solução desse enigma a que chamamos evolução. Por isso o contacto com a Natureza, a Natureza das nossas ilhas, é fundamental para a investigação, para a vida do Departamento de Biologia

Workshops de Malacologia : ciência séria em reunião informal

A secção Biologia é coordenada pelo Professor Universitário Armindo Rodrigues.Divulgação científica e investigação juntam sinergias na realização de workshops internacionais que promovem o conhecimento do mar Açoriano

Vale um caracol! – repondo a verdade e a justiça

A secção UAciência é coordenada pelo Professor Universitário Armindo Rodrigues.[…]. Por vivermos num laboratório natural, perguntas simples dos estudiosos podem aqui ter resposta adequada, embora complexa: por que razão a fauna e flora dos Acores e europeia se ventos e correntes vem da América? Se as espécies originais chegaram de fora, por que razão não são as espécies das várias ilhas todas iguais? Que influenciará mais o aparecimento de espécies novas, a idade ou a superfície? A vetusta ilha de Santa Maria, com cerca de 8 milhões de anos, é figura central e deveria ser considerada património científico mundial. Os seus fósseis contam histórias sobre as vicissitudes do clima que fizeram subir e descer o nível do mar mais do que 100 metros, deixando preservados na rocha fósseis que agora nos revelam segredos de antigamente. […].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Radical Chemistry in a Femtosecond Laser Plasma: Photochemical Reduction of Ag+ in Liquid Ammonia Solution

Plasmas with dense concentrations of reactive species such as hydrated electrons and hydroxyl radicals are generated from focusing intense femtosecond laser pulses into aqueous media. These radical species can reduce metal ions such as Au3+ to form metal nanoparticles (NPs). However, the formation of H2O2 by the recombination of hydroxyl radicals inhibits the reduction of Ag+ through back-oxidation. This work has explored the control of hydroxyl radical chemistry in a femtosecond laser-generated plasma through the addition of liquid ammonia. The irradiation of liquid ammonia solutions resulted in a reaction between NH3 and OH·, forming peroxynitrite and ONOO−, and significantly reducing the amount of H2O2 generated. Varying the liquid ammonia concentration controlled the Ag+ reduction rate, forming 12.7 ± 4.9 nm silver nanoparticles at the optimal ammonia concentration. The photochemical mechanisms underlying peroxynitrite formation and Ag+ reduction are discussed