Requalificação urbana no entorno do Rio Trapicheiros, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil / Urban requalification around the Rio Trapicheiros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

O projeto urbano deve proporcionar espaços livres de uso público mais confortáveis, seguros e multifuncionais, articulando as soluções de drenagem às paisagísticas. Assim, este trabalho apresenta um projeto de requalificação urbana no Bairro da Tijuca, Zona Norte da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, que tem como objeto um percurso urbano que se desenvolve ao longo de um trecho do Rio Trapicheiros, que sofre com problemas de cheias e falta de qualidade nos espaços livres adjacentes. O Rio Trapicheiros tem importância histórica para o Bairro e, com mais de 6km de extensão, corta o mesmo quase por inteiro, apresentando melhores condições ambientais apenas em sua nascente, assim como ocorre com grande parte dos rios inseridos em meio urbano. Todo o Bairro sofre com inundações frequentes em épocas de chuvas como resultado tanto do processo de urbanização, quanto da conformação geográfica dessa região: uma planície costeira cercada por encostas de morros com alta declividade, em grande parte ocupados por favelas. O projeto desenvolvido neste artigo tem como objetivo o reconhecimento patrimonial da paisagem do Rio Trapicheiros, principalmente pelos moradores, além de estimular o caminhar, a fruição do lugar e a minimização das cheias (de forma complementar). O projeto foi estruturado nas seguintes etapas: (1) a definição da problemática e delimitação do objeto de intervenção; (2) análise do lugar através de pesquisa histórica; (3) levantamento da legislação, morfologia, uso do solo e sistema viário; (4) levantamento do estado do rio, com a caracterização de sua calha e trechos de galerias (5) levantamento das apropriações dos espaços livres e arborização; (6) levantamento da paisagem noturna e sonora; (7) proposta de ‘’master plan’’ – programa e zoneamento; (8) proposta de projeto geométrico; (9) estudo preliminar e (10) avaliação do impacto da proposta no funcionamento do Rio e no padrão das inundações locais. Espera-se, portanto, que as discussões levantadas neste estudo possam ser utilizadas como instrumento para análise de futuras intervenções em rios urbanos, uma vez que o resultado final simulado no modelo matemático aponta para a redução das inundações, com ações projetuais de custo relativamente baixo, e a melhoria dos espaços livres urbanos de uso público

Environmental Protection Areas as a Strategy to Increase Flood Protection in Metropolitan Regions: A Case Study in Maricá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In peripheral countries, the lack of adequate urban planning associated with natural dynamics intensifies the existing vulnerabilities of the environment, causing physical and material losses. Therefore, this research aims to discuss the potential use of Environmental Protection Areas as a tool to drive urban growth with a low-impact development, helping to mitigate urban floods and bringing nature into the city landscape. The municipality of Maricá, located in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is taken as a case study. The method proposed to drive the regional environmental planning and management can be described as a three-stage method coupled with the adapted SWOT Matrix, following: the diagnosis, the prognosis, and the action plan. This process points to the definition of a Hydrological Interest Area that would allow not only the restoration of local vegetation and a better interaction of the population with the watercourses, but also the recovery of areas that have been gradually impacted by the urban expansion. The method presented in this research allows its application in different urban contexts, once it has the objective of recognizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to allow the elaboration of sustainable actions and guidelines

Distinct mRNA and protein interactomes highlight functional differentiation of major eIF4F-like complexes from Trypanosoma brucei

Gene expression in pathogenic protozoans of the family Trypanosomatidae has several novel features, including multiple eIF4F-like complexes involved in protein synthesis. The eukaryotic eIF4F complex, formed mainly by eIF4E and eIF4G subunits, is responsible for the canonical selection of mRNAs required for the initiation of mRNA translation. The best-known complexes implicated in translation in trypanosomatids are based on two related pairs of eIF4E and eIF4G subunits (EIF4E3/EIF4G4 and EIF4E4/EIF4G3), whose functional distinctions remain to be fully described. Here, to define interactomes associated with both complexes in Trypanosoma brucei procyclic forms, we performed parallel immunoprecipitation experiments followed by identification of proteins co-precipitated with the four tagged eIF4E and eIF4G subunits. A number of different protein partners, including RNA binding proteins and helicases, specifically co-precipitate with each complex. Highlights with the EIF4E4/EIF4G3 pair include RBP23, PABP1, EIF4AI and the CRK1 kinase. Co-precipitated partners with the EIF4E3/EIF4G4 pair are more diverse and include DRBD2, PABP2 and different zinc-finger proteins and RNA helicases. EIF4E3/EIF4G4 are essential for viability and to better define their role, we further investigated their phenotypes after knockdown. Depletion of either EIF4E3/EIF4G4 mRNAs lead to aberrant morphology with a more direct impact on events associated with cytokinesis. We also sought to identify those mRNAs differentially associated with each complex through CLIP-seq with the two eIF4E subunits. Predominant among EIF4E4-bound transcripts are those encoding ribosomal proteins, absent from those found with EIF4E3, which are generally more diverse. RNAi mediated depletion of EIF4E4, which does not affect proliferation, does not lead to changes in mRNAs or proteins associated with EIF4E3, confirming a lack of redundancy and distinct roles for the two complexes

Quantitative analysis of flood resilience for urban planning: case of the Canal do Mangue in Rio de Janeiro

Urban flooding is still, in many cases, treated as a straight consequence of excess rainfall, without considering the watershed functioning as an interdependent system and its interfaces with the development of the territory occupation. The traditional approach implies continuous localized and corrective interventions, post-events, requiring increasingly large investments for the implementation of structures able to accommodate the increased runoff generated by urbanization, with consequent disturbances to the urban area already installed. These efforts have not prevented floods from continuing to cause major damage worldwide, indicating the need for a change in stormwater management strategy from a simple cost-benefit analysis of structural flood control measures to a risk management approach applied to a stormwater management plan, with residual risk internalization, regarding uncertainties inherent in flooding process, such as climate change and urban development. The present research applies flood risk management to analyze the efficiency of urban drainage interventions as an essential tool for territory planning and urban resilience evaluation.O problema das enchentes urbanas ainda é, em muitos casos, tratado como uma consequência direta do excesso de chuva, sem considerar o funcionamento da bacia hidrográfica como um sistema interdependente e sem considerar as suas interfaces com o próprio desenvolvimento da ocupação do território. A abordagem tradicional implica em continuadas intervenções localizadas e corretivas, pós-eventos, exigindo investimentos cada vez maiores para implantação de estruturas capazes de comportar o aumento de vazões gerado pela urbanização, com consequentes transtornos para a própria área urbana já instalada. Esses esforços não evitaram que inundações continuem a provocar grandes prejuízos em todo o mundo, indicando a necessidade de uma mudança na estratégia de manejo das águas pluviais, passando de uma análise custo-benefício simplificada das obras estruturais de controle de enchentes para uma abordagem de gerenciamento do risco aplicado a um plano de manejo de águas pluviais, com a internalização do risco residual, considerando as diversas incertezas inerentes ao processo de formação das cheias, como as mudanças climáticas e o próprio desenvolvimento urbano. A presente pesquisa aplica o gerenciamento de risco de inundações para análise da eficiência de projetos como ferramenta essencial para o planejamento do território e avaliação da resiliência urbana

Urban Floods in Lowlands—Levee Systems, Unplanned Urban Growth and River Restoration Alternative: A Case Study in Brazil

The development of cities has always had a very close relation with water. However, cities directly impact land use patterns and greatly change natural landscapes, aggravating floods. Considering this situation, this paper intends to discuss lowland occupation and city sustainability in what regards urban stormwater management, fluvial space, and river restoration, aiming at minimizing flood risks and improving natural and built environment conditions. River plains tend to be attractive places for a city to grow. From ancient times, levees have been used to protect lowland areas along major watercourses to allow their occupation. However, urban rivers demand space for temporary flood storage. From a systemic point of view, levees along extensive river reaches act as canalization works, limiting river connectivity with flood plains, rising water levels, increasing overtopping risks and transferring floods downstream. Departing from this discussion, four case studies in the Iguaçu-Sarapuí River Basin, a lowland area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, are used to compose a perspective in which the central point refers to the need of respecting watershed limits and giving space to rivers. Different aspects of low-lying city planning are discussed and analyzed concerning the integration of the built and natural environments

Urban Flood Simulation Using MODCEL—An Alternative Quasi-2D Conceptual Model

Urban flood modelling has been evolving in recent years, due to computational facilities as well as to the possibility of obtaining detailed terrain data. Flood control techniques have also been evolving to integrate both urban flood and urban planning issues. Land use control and flow generation concerns, as well as a set of possible distributed measures favouring storage and infiltration over the watershed, also gained importance in flood control projects, reinforcing the need to model the entire basin space. However, the use of 2D equations with highly detailed digital elevation models do not guarantee good results by their own. Urban geometry, including buildings shapes, walls, earth fills, and other structures may cause significant interference on flood paths. In this context, this paper presents an alternative urban flood model, focusing on the system behaviour and its conceptual interpretation. Urban Flood Cell Model-MODCEL is a hydrological-hydrodynamic model proposed to represent a complex flow network, with a set of relatively simple information, using average values to represent urban landscape through the flow-cell concept. In this work, to illustrate model capabilities, MODCEL is benchmarked in a test proposed by the British Environmental Agency. Then, its capability to represent storm drains is verified using measured data and a comparison with Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Finally, it is applied in a lowland area of the Venetian continental plains, representing floods in a complex setup at the city of Noale and in its surroundings

Flood Risk Assessment Index for Urban Mobility with the Aid of Quasi-2d Flood Model Applied to an Industrial Park in São Paulo, Brazil

Risk can be defined as the relationship between the likelihood of a hazard causing a potential disaster and its consequences. This study aims to assess the likelihood that a new industrial region, located in the state of São Paulo (Brazil), will be flooded, causing the disruption of the mobility system and local economic activities. To fulfill this aim, a new approach is proposed by combining the vector information of the highway network that serves the region with the result of a quasi 2-D raster flood model, generating a set of interpreting rules for classifying the safety of routes. The model called MODCEL is a quasi-2D hydrodynamic model that represents the watershed using compartments called cells, and it was adapted to work using a raster file format in which each pixel is represented as a flow cell connected to its surroundings by the Saint-Venant equations without the inertia terms. Therefore, this study proposes an assessment framework that can be replicated for similar problems of flood risks to mobility. The possible effects of flood events on the accessibility to areas of interest are determined, indicating a possible disruption to economic activities and transportation and allowing for planning alternatives in advance

Distinct mRNA and protein interactomes highlight functional differentiation of major eIF4F-like complexes from Trypanosoma brucei.

Peer reviewed: TrueAcknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Nancy Standart for critical review of the manuscript. They also acknowledge the substantial support from the FIOCRUZ Technical Platform program through the Platforms for the high throughput SOLID sequencing and the facility for Protein Purification and Characterization and Proteomics at the Carlos Chagas Institute (Fiocruz Parana), as well as the DNA Sequencing and Electron Microscopy Platforms at the Aggeu Magalhaes Institute (Fiocruz Pernambuco).Gene expression in pathogenic protozoans of the family Trypanosomatidae has several novel features, including multiple eIF4F-like complexes involved in protein synthesis. The eukaryotic eIF4F complex, formed mainly by eIF4E and eIF4G subunits, is responsible for the canonical selection of mRNAs required for the initiation of mRNA translation. The best-known complexes implicated in translation in trypanosomatids are based on two related pairs of eIF4E and eIF4G subunits (EIF4E3/EIF4G4 and EIF4E4/EIF4G3), whose functional distinctions remain to be fully described. Here, to define interactomes associated with both complexes in Trypanosoma brucei procyclic forms, we performed parallel immunoprecipitation experiments followed by identification of proteins co-precipitated with the four tagged eIF4E and eIF4G subunits. A number of different protein partners, including RNA binding proteins and helicases, specifically co-precipitate with each complex. Highlights with the EIF4E4/EIF4G3 pair include RBP23, PABP1, EIF4AI and the CRK1 kinase. Co-precipitated partners with the EIF4E3/EIF4G4 pair are more diverse and include DRBD2, PABP2 and different zinc-finger proteins and RNA helicases. EIF4E3/EIF4G4 are essential for viability and to better define their role, we further investigated their phenotypes after knockdown. Depletion of either EIF4E3/EIF4G4 mRNAs lead to aberrant morphology with a more direct impact on events associated with cytokinesis. We also sought to identify those mRNAs differentially associated with each complex through CLIP-seq with the two eIF4E subunits. Predominant among EIF4E4-bound transcripts are those encoding ribosomal proteins, absent from those found with EIF4E3, which are generally more diverse. RNAi mediated depletion of EIF4E4, which does not affect proliferation, does not lead to changes in mRNAs or proteins associated with EIF4E3, confirming a lack of redundancy and distinct roles for the two complexes

Evaluating the Role of Urban Drainage Flaws in Triggering Cascading Effects on Critical Infrastructure, Affecting Urban Resilience

The urban drainage system plays an important role in the urban infrastructure resilience discussion. Its functional failures can trigger cascading effects on other urban systems and critical infrastructures. The main aim of this work is to investigate and quantify urban flood resilience, offering an integrated methodological approach. In this process, the flooding consequences were quantified by hydrodynamic simulations, using a case study in an exploratory research method. A set of indicators was proposed to map the cascading effects generated by floods and the consequent quantification of urban flooding resilience. Two simulation scenarios were proposed to validate the methodological assessment framework proposed in this work. The first scenario represented the current flooding situation and showed the negative effects on the city systems resulting from disordered urban growth. The second scenario considered the improvement of the drainage behavior, considering a sustainable urban drainage approach supported by the concept of blue-green infrastructure integrated with the urban open spaces system. A comprehensive flood resilience assessment over time was conducted by analyzing the evolution of the System Integrity Index on both scenarios. The results showed that water dynamics play an important role in ordering land use and that preserving water spaces can efficiently respond to urban developing threats, dealing with floods in an earlier development moment, proving the importance of the drainage system as a preliminary structuring driver for supporting a sustainable urban planning, ordered according to environmental constraints defined by water dynamics