Flood risk assessment in an urban area: Vila Nova de Gaia

This paper proposes a methodology for flood risk assessment in a non fluvial urban flood. Two hazard classifications were considered; one with water depth and flow velocity classes and other with the product of water depth and flow velocity. The vulnerability assessment resulted in five classes obtained by cluster and principal components analysis. Flood risk maps were achieved by hazard and vulnerability classes’ crossover. The methodology is applied to a case study in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia. DTM with one meter resolution; HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS was applied to an urban catch- ment with one hour temporal scale; the 2001 statistical census tracts provide the demographic and social information. This methodology can be considered a straightforward and successful way to assess flood risk maps. However, the differences attained by the two hazard methods point out the need of further developments in the assessment of flood risk in stepped urban areas

Are we willing to give what it takes? Willingness to pay for climate change adaptation in developing countries

Climate change adaptation is gaining traction as a necessary policy alongside mitigation, particularly for developing countries, many of which lack the resources to adapt. However, funding for developing country adaptation remains woefully inadequate. This paper identifies the burden of responsibility that individuals in the UK are willing to incur in support of adaptation projects in developing countries. Results from a nationally representative survey indicate that UK residents are willing to contribute £27 per year (or a median of £6 per year) towards developing country adaptation (US$30 and$7 using the World Bank’s purchasing power conversion factors). This represents less than one third of the back-of-the-envelope $100-140 per capita per year that the authors estimate would be needed to raise the$70-100bn per year recommended by the World Bank to fund developing country adaptation. Regressions indicate that WTP is driven mostly by a combination of beliefs and perceptions about one’s own knowledge levels, rather than actual knowledge of climate change. We conclude that, to engage the many different audiences that make up the ‘public’, communication efforts must move beyond the simple provision of information and instead, connect with people’s existing values and beliefs

Aplicação dos Sistemas de Informação Geográfica no estudo do impacte visual de um parque eólico

Os Parques Eólicos foram uma das tipologias de projecto, constante das Listas Positivas do DL 69/2000 de 3 de Maio, que mais têm sido sujeitos ao procedimento de Avaliação de Impacte Ambiental, quer pelo aumento do número deste tipo de infra-estruturas, quer pelas localizações maioritariamente em zonas protegidas. Os maiores impactes decorrentes deste tipo de projecto verificam-se no descritor Paisagem, no entanto, os impactes visuais nem sempre foram estudados de forma adequada. A construção de perfis visuais e simulações visuais é ainda uma técnica pouco utilizada nos Estudo de Impacte Ambiental destas tipologias. Assim, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG), para a construção de bacias de visão e permitir a análise do impacte visual. Neste estudo foi analisado o impacte visual dos aerogeradores de um Parque Eólico nas localidades limítrofes. A aplicação desta metodologia em SIG necessita da seguinte informação geográfica base: altimetria, toponímia e localização dos aerogeradores. A análise das bacias de visão, utilizando a tecnologia SIG, é um processo eficiente na avaliação do impacte visual de infra-estruturas com efeito negativo sobre a paisagem

Delimitação de zonas inundáveis entre Belver e Vila Nova da Barquinha

Só está disponível o resumo.Delimitação de zonas inundáveis entre Belver e Vila Nova da Barquinha

Co-processed olive oils with Thymus mastichina L. - New product optimization

Olive co-processing consists of the addition of ingredients either in the mill or in the malaxator. This technique allows selecting the type of olives, the ingredients with the greatest flavoring and bioactive potential, and the technological extraction conditions. A new product—a gourmet flavored oil—was developed by co-processing olives with Thymus mastichina L. The trials were performed using overripe fruits with low aroma potential (cv. ‘Galega Vulgar’; ripening index 6.4). Experimental conditions were dictated by a central composite rotatable design (CCRD) as a function of thyme (0.4-4.6%, w/w) and water (8.3-19.7%, w/w) contents used in malaxation. A flavored oil was also obtained by adding 2.5% thyme during milling, followed by 14% water addition in the malaxator (central point conditions of CCRD). The chemical characterization of the raw materials, as well as the analysis of the flavored and unflavored oils, were performed (chemical quality criteria, sensory analysis, major fatty acid composition, and phenolic compounds). Considering chemical quality criteria, the flavored oils have the characteristics of “Virgin Olive Oil” (VOO), but they cannot have this classification due to legislation issues. Flavored oils obtained under optimized co-processing conditions (thyme concentrations > 3.5-4.0% and water contents varying from 14 to 18%) presented higher phenolic contents and biologic value than the non-flavored VOO. In flavored oils, thyme flavor was detected with high intensity, while the defect of “wet wood”, perceived in VOO, was not detected. The flavored oil, obtained by T. mastichina addition in the mill, showed higher oxidative stability (19.03 h) than the VOO and the co-processed oil with thyme addition in the malaxator (14.07 h), even after six-month storage in the dark (16.6 vs. 10.3 h)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Catalytic performance of bulk and colloidal Co/Al layered double hydroxide with Au nanoparticles in aerobic olefin oxidation

A Co/Al layered double hydroxide material was synthesized in both bulk and exfoliated (colloidal) forms. Anion exchange with methionine allowed immobilization of Au nanoparticles previously prepared by a biomimetic method using an anti-oxidant tea aqueous extract to reduce the Au salt solution. The catalytic performance of bulk and exfoliated clays Au-hybrid materials was assessed in aerobic olefin epoxidation. Both catalysts were very active towards the epoxide products and with very interesting substrate conversion levels after 80 h reaction time. The Au-exfoliated material, where the nanosheets work as large ligands, yielded higher product stereoselectivity in the case of limonene epoxidation. This arises from a confined environment around the Au nanoparticles wrapped by the clay nanosheets modulating access to the catalytic active centres by reagents. Mechanistic assessment was also accomplished for styrene oxidation by DFT methodspublishe

Portuguese Prevalence of Pediatric Chronic Intestinal Failure

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trophic-mediated pelagic habitat structuring and partitioning by sympatric elasmobranchs

Funding provided by the TRIATLAS project through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant No. 817578), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientı́fico e Tecnológico - CNPq (478070/2008-0, 482557/2011-7), the Fundação Grupo Boticário (0760/2007.2), the Save Our Seas Foundation (66/2008), and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – FCT (UIDB/04292/2020; UIDP/04292/2020), is deeply acknowledged. Scholarships granted by the FACEPE foundation to NPAB and by CNPq to BCLM (140567/2012-7) are also acknowledged. We acknowledge the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), the Brazilian Navy (SECIRM) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientı́fico e Tecnológico (CNPq) through the Pró-Arquipélago Program (557183/2009-0; 562062/20102-6; 405460/2012-0; 442884/2015-0) for providing precious logistic support.Pelagic elasmobranchs are key elements of oceanic ecosystems and must be preserved if marine trophic networks are to be kept in balance. Yet, they face intense fishing pressure that has been threatening their populations worldwide. Ensuring proper conservation management of these taxa depends on a better understanding of the strategies they use to explore the pelagic realm and their contributions to trophic web structuring across the ocean column. This study aimed at examining relationships between vertical habitat use and trophic attributes among six sympatric pelagic elasmobranchs using satellite transmitting tags in the western equatorial South Atlantic Ocean. The vertical movements of 35 elasmobranch individuals were tracked during an overall total of 1911 days. Clear relationships between species’ feeding habits, maximum diving depths, and proportion of time spent either in epipelagic or in surface waters were evidenced by Bayesian generalized linear mixed models and multivariate analysis. Filter-feeders made most use of deep waters from the mesopelagic and bathypelagic and shifted their diving depths in phase with diel vertical migrations of the deep scattering layer, i.e., shallower during the night and deeper during the day. Specialists exhibited distinct diving patterns in epipelagic and mesopelagic waters across the diel period which are potentially indicative of habitat partitioning, whereas generalists were more surface-oriented but also explored deeper waters compared to specialists. The trophic level also seemed to influence elasmobranch maximum diving depths, which tended to become shallower as species’ trophic level increased. These results corroborate previous evidence of widespread vertical habitat partitioning among sympatric pelagic predators and depict a trophicmediated structuring of the pelagic environment where top-down control may be exerted at different depths by distinct species. Further research is yet required to understand the role of elasmobranch vertical movements in structuring pelagic habitats as well as to guide ecosystem-based fisheries management aimed at reducing species susceptibility to fishing gear and at preserving the structure and functionality of marine trophic networks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring preferences for low-carbon energy technologies in South-East England: the case of electricity generation

This paper reports on a mail survey that investigated public preferences in South-East England for the use of low-carbon energy technologies in electricity production, namely on-shore wind, biomass and nuclear power. Using a labelled choice experiment the perceived importance and value to the public of distance and the impacts of these energy options on biodiversity, carbon emissions, land occupation and household cost was explored. Results suggest that the attributes, the name of technology, respondents’ demographic characteristics, general attitudes towards the environment and energy, previous knowledge and experience with the technologies were significant choice determinants. Considering the current debate about the further development of low-carbon technologies and in particular of nuclear power and biomass in the UK and worldwide, this survey aims to provide an insight into the factors that could potentially influence their public acceptability

Study of the requirements of an autonomous system for surface water quality monitoring

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the preservation, protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Water resources, being one of the most important natural resources, face major threats due to contamination by pollutants of various types and origins. Maintaining the quality of water resources requires more robust, reliable and more frequent monitoring than traditional techniques of data collection based on sporadic, discontinuous and manual processes. The management of large geographical areas, the insufficient spatiotemporal discretization of the values of samples collected by traditional processes and the unpredictability of natural phenomena, require a new approach to data collection procedures. This article, which is the result of ongoing research, defines the technical requirements and technologies used in a continuous and regular monitoring of surface water quality in freshwater systems, whose data acquisition system helps to identify the sources of pollution and the contaminants flow along the waterways. The design of a versatile real-time water quality monitoring system, which, due to its environmental constraints should be based on renewable energies and wireless transfer of energy, will contribute to improve the management and effective protection of water resources.This work was supported by Centro2020, Portugal 2020 and European Union (EU) under the grants, CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-024052E – Libélula: Mobile robotic surface water quality monitoring system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio