Students’ expectations from graduate studies in heritage (tourism) management

This article provides certain key aspects that might help to further develop academic heritage education. These have been discussed within brainstorming and round-table sessions carried out by World Heritage students at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Important aspects regarding expectations, current issues and prospective career opportunities were selected after these sessions. With the idea of our International Master Programme in mind, the results of this work have been summarized to identify what makes a good focus to Heritage Studies and further strategies to improve this discipline. It was concluded that international and interdisciplinary approaches should serve as the basis to facilitate personal research interests, critical thinking, a sense of student community and how all these can be applied to a future professional career. External students, faculty members and heritage professionals are invited to join this debate

Atividade de enzimas do metabolismo do carbono em função da razão área foliar/frutos em diferentes posições da copa do cafeeiro.

Neste trabalho, em março de 2007 foram coletados tecidos foliares em ramos plagiotrópicos com três razões área foliar/fruto (RAF) de plantas de café cultivadas em renques orientados norte-sul nas posições leste inferior, leste superior, oeste inferior e oeste superior da copa das plantas, enquanto em 2008 foram coletados tecidos foliares em ramos plagiotrópicos em apenas uma RAF. Foi determinada a atividade das enzimas da sintase da sacarose-fosfato-SPS, pirofosforilase da ADP-glicose-AGPase, invertase ácida e sintase da sacarose-Susy. Adicionalmente, não foi observado um padrão claro de resposta das atividades das enzimas AGPase, invertase, SuSy e SPS em 2007. Em 2008, por outro lado, observou-se tendência de menores atividades das enzimas supracitadas nas folhas da posição leste inferior, fato que pode estar associado com menor taxa de fotossíntese ao longo do dia, provavelmente em função de uma menor disponibilidade de luz nessa face

Crescimento vegetativo e produção em função da razão área foliar/fruto em diferentes posições da copa do cafeeiro.

Neste trabalho, nas safras 2006-2007 e 2007-2008, foi avaliado o crescimento dos ramos em plantas de café cultivadas em renques orientados na posição norte-sul em ramos plagiotrópicos com três razões área foliar/fruto (RAF) nas posições leste inferior (LI), leste superior (LS), oeste inferior (OI) e oeste superior (OS) da copa das plantas . Adicionalmente, em cada posição e em cada face de orientação, foi avaliada a produção de frutos nas safras 2006-2007, 2007-2008 e 2008-2009. Pode-se observar a competição entre o crescimento vegetativo e reprodutivo, tendo em vista que os ramos com menor RAF apresentaram menor crescimento na safra 2006-2007. A produção de frutos não apresentou o padrão de bienalidade do cafeeiro nas faces de posição na copa, e maiores produções nas safras 2006-2007 e 2008-2009. Verificou-se maior produção na face leste, o que pode estar associado a maior disponibilidade de luz naquela posição

Mass closure on the chemical species in size-segregated atmospheric aerosol collected in an urban area of the Po Valley, Italy

International audienceA complete size segregated chemical characterisation was carried out for aerosol samples collected in the urban area of Bologna over a period of one year, using five-stage low pressure Berner impactors. An original dual-substrate technique was adopted to obtain samples suitable for a complete chemical characterisation. Total mass, inorganic, and organic components were analysed as a function of size, and a detailed characterisation of the water soluble organic compounds was also performed by means of a previously developed methodology, based on HPLC separation of organic compounds according to their acid character and functional group analysis by Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Chemical mass closure of the collected samples was reached to within a few percent on average in the submicron aerosol range, while a higher unknown fraction in the coarse aerosol range was attributed to soil-derived species not analysed in this experiment. Comparison of the functional group analysis results with model results simulating water soluble organic compound production by gas-to-particle conversion of anthropogenic VOCs showed that this pathway provides a minor contribution to the organic composition of the aerosol samples in the urban area of Bologna

Seismic effectiveness and robustness of tuned mass dampers versus nonlinear energy sinks in a lifecycle cost perspective

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) and nonlinear energy sinks (NESs) are two viable options for passively absorbing structural vibrations. In seismic applications, a trade-off exists in their performance, because TMDs’ effectiveness varies with the structural stiffness while NESs’ effectiveness varies with the earthquake intensity. To investigate this trade-off systematically, a lifecycle cost- (LCC-) oriented robust analysis and design method is here proposed, in which the effectiveness of a solution is measured by the reduction it entails in the expected cost of future seismic losses. In it, structural stiffness variability is modelled using a worst-case approach with lower and upper bounds, while seismic intensity variability is inherently captured by the incremental dynamic analyses underlying every LCC evaluation. The resulting worst-case lifetime cost provides a rational metric for discussing pros and cons of TMDs and NESs, and becomes the objective function for their robust optimization. The method is applied to the design of TMDs and NESs on a variety of single- and multi-story linear building models, located in a moderate-to-high seismic hazard region. Mass ratios from 1 to 10% and structural stiffness reductions up to 4 times are considered. Results show that TMDs are consistently more effective than NESs even in the presence of large stiffness reductions, provided that structural stiffness uncertainty is considered in design. They also show that a conventional robust H∞ design provides for TMDs a solution which is very close to that obtained by minimizing the proposed LCC metric

Size-segregated aerosol mass closure and chemical composition in Monte Cimone (I) during MINATROC

International audiencePhysical and chemical characterizations of the atmospheric aerosol were carried out at Mt. Cimone (Italy) during the 4 June-4 July 2000 period. Particle size distributions in the size range 6nm-10µm were measured with a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and an optical particle counter (OPC). Size-segregated aerosol was sampled using a 6-stage low pressure impactor. Aerosol samples were submitted to gravimetric and chemical analyses. Ionic, carbonaceous and refractory components of the aerosol were quantified. We compared the sub- and superµm aerosol mass concentrations determined by gravimetric measurements (mGM), chemical analyses (mmCA), and by converting particle size distribution to aerosol mass concentrations (mmSD). Mean random uncertainties associated with the determination of mmGM, mmCA, and mmSD were assessed. The three estimates of the sub-µm aerosol mass concentration agreed, which shows that within experimental uncertainty, the sub-µm aerosol was composed of the quantified components. The three estimates of the super-µm aerosol mass concentration did not agree, which indicates that random uncertainties and/or possible systematic errors in aerosol sampling, sizing or analyses were not adequately accounted for. Aerosol chemical composition in air masses from different origins showed differences, which were significant in regard to experimental uncertainties. During the Saharan dust advection period, coarse dust and fine anthropogenic particles were externally mixed. No anthropogenic sulfate could be found in the super-µm dust particles. In contrast, nitrate was shifted towards the aerosol super-µm fraction in presence of desert dust