A knowledge-based decision support system for sustainable city livability evaluation

The real estate industry is an important indicator of national economies and is influenced by the environment in which it operates. Several countries were seriously affected by the most recent international financial crisis, including Portugal. Nevertheless, it is still an interesting area to invest in, in spite of the challenges cities may face nowadays that influence their sustainable livability. For this reason, it seems logical to develop and apply methodologies aimed at evaluating sustainable city livability. It is worth noting, however, that there are methodological limitations typically associated with the majority of the current applications (e.g. how to select and weight criteria in the evaluation), which have been hampering the progress. Hence, this dissertation aims to develop a knowledge-based decision support system to evaluate sustainable city livability, in a transparent and informed way. To achieve this goal, it combines cognitive mapping techniques and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The advantages and limitations of this integrative evaluation model are also analyzed and discussed.O mercado imobiliário é um indicador importante das economias mundiais e é influenciado pelo ambiente em que opera. Muitos foram os países seriamente afetados pela mais recente crise financeira internacional, incluindo Portugal. Não obstante, este continua a ser uma área de investimento interessante, ainda que, hoje em dia, as cidades possam enfrentar desafios que influenciam a sua habitabilidade sustentável. Por essa razão, parece lógico o desenvolvimento e a aplicação de metodologias que permitam avaliar a sustentabilidade habitacional de uma área urbana. No entanto, limitações metodológicas comuns à maioria das aplicações (e.g. processo de seleção e ponderação dos critérios de avaliação) têm dificultado os progressos alcançados. Assim, a presente dissertação pretende desenvolver um “termómetro” de habitabilidade sustentável que, de forma informada e transparente, permita apoiar a tomada de decisão no mercado imobiliário urbano, através da combinação do uso integrado de técnicas de mapeamento cognitivo e da metodologia Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). As vantagens e as limitações do uso deste sistema integrativo de avaliação serão também analisadas e discutidas

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved