Characterization of listeria monocytogenes isolates from human clinical episodes ocurring from 2013 to 2018

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An integrated framework to support sustainable electricity planning

The changes in the electricity sector along with the need for sustainable development required traditional electricity planning to expand beyond pure financial analysis and even beyond direct environmental impact analysis. The electricity planner has now the task of designing electricity strategies for the future with the view of enhancing the financial performance of the sector while simultaneously addressing environmental and social concerns. However, the integration of the relevant dimensions of sustainable electricity planning poses important challenges to researchers. In addition, to properly deal with the increasing use of renewable energy sources of variable output, traditional optimisation models must be able to integrate the short term operational planning and dispatching process with the long range planning models. This paper proposes a new framework to sustainable electricity planning, based on optimisation models for electricity power planning combined with participatory methodologies for addressing the social dimension of the problem. The effective implementation of this framework is demonstrated for a real case study based on the Portuguese electricity system. The research started from the presentation of electricity generation scenarios for 2020 drawn from a mixed integer linear optimization model. These scenarios were then characterized under different social, economic and environmental impacts, and evaluated according to a multicriteria procedure based on experts’ inputs.This work was financed by: the QREN – Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors –the EU – European Regional Development Fund and National Funds – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-011377 and Project Pest- OE/EME/UI0252/2011

Direitos humanos dos refugiados

O tema das migrações está incluído nas agendas internacional e nacional dos países do globo. O fenômeno da migração sempre existiu; contudo, as guerras, as mudanças climáticas, a globalização, a pobreza, a fome, as catástrofes, o terrorismo e outros fatores trouxeram a necessidade de rediscussão e aprofundamento do tema, que tem um reflexo cada vez maior na sociedade. A concessão de refúgio a pessoas vítimas de perseguição sempre foi vista como um exercício de solidariedade mundial, mas atualmente vemos um retrocesso em relação ao instituto do refúgio, especialmente sob o argumento da priorização da segurança nacional. Haja vista que a orientação de todo o ordenamento jurídico e da atuação dos Estados tem como princípio a dignidade da pessoa humana, este trabalho visa investigar se o refúgio transcende os r refúgio. Para este fim, foram pesquisados artigos, livros e legislação pertinente para estabelecer conceitos e parâmetros dentro dos quais o tema deve ser tratado. Como resultado, concluímos que a dignidade da pessoa humana deve pautar normas e comportamentos de modo que o refúgio deve ser visto sob a ótica do indivíduo e dos direitos humanos e não da perspectiva do Estado, pois aquele é o mais vulnerável

Evaluating future scenarios for the power generation sector using a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool : the Portuguese case

A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool was designed and used to support the evaluation of different electricity production scenarios. The MCDA tool is implemented in a user-friendly Excel worksheet and uses information obtained from a mixed integer optimization model, to produce a set of optimal schemes under different assumptions. Given the input, the MCDA allowed ranking different scenarios relying on their performance on 13 criteria covering economic, job market, quality of life of local populations, technical and environmental issues. The MCDA tool was used by a group of experts and academics with background in economics, engineering and environment. Regarding the totality of results, both the most and least expensive scenarios ranked first the same amount of times. These scenarios were, respectively, “Coal”, relying mainly in new coal power plants and “Maximum Renewable”, relying mainly in new wind and hydro power facilities. The opinions were divided towards these two solutions with different fundamental characteristics: “Maximum Renewable” with costs higher than “Coal” but leading to substantial reduction of the external energy dependency. Sensitivity analysis suggests that, although the costs are regarded as the most important criterion, those who had different rankings in their preferences have different attitudes towards other criteria.This work was financed by: the QREN Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors, the European Union e European Regional Development Fund and National Funds e Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Project FCOMP-01- 0124-FEDER-011377 and Project Pest-OE/EME/UI0252/2011

The inclusion of social aspects in power planning

This paper overviews previous research addressing the inclusion of the, social dimension of sustainable development on power systems planning. Consequences of the recent energy policies and strategies are already being felt in, developed countries’ power systems, with the integration of rising quotas in renewable, energy technologies. However, while the tools that aid decision making on power, planning show that economic and environmental issues are easily quantifiable and thus, modeled, social concerns have been addressed in a less extensive and more, subjective way, implying in most cases expert participation on multi-criteria decision aid, techniques. A survey of recent papers providing public perceptions on electricity, generation technologies and projects is presented. These papers were chosen and, reviewed in order to present a representative array of methodologies that are used to, assess social acceptance of technologies. According to some of the reviewed papers, this issue is suggested to be fundamental to increase project success. As a conclusion, stands the fact that further discussion is still needed in order to achieve solid, agreement, among experts, over what are the positive and the negative drivers to, social sustainability; otherwise models will not be able to translate reality and improve it, under this point of view.This work was financed by: the QREN – Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors, the European Union – European Regional Development Fund and National Funds - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-011377 and Project Pest-OE/EME/UI0252/2011

The impact of fuel and CO2 prices on electricity power plans

The increasing uncertainty surrounding the electricity generating sector has implications on the forecasting accuracy and makes sensitivity analysis an essential tool for electricity power planning. The fuel price volatility and the emissions trading schemes represent major sources of uncertainty, as the relative economic interest of thermo power plants and of renewable energy sources largely depends on these two factors. In this paper, an electricity planning model will be used to analyse both these aspects, identifying the relative importance and sensitiveness of the optimal electricity power plans to changes on these parameters.QREN – Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors, European Union – European Regional Development Fund and Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

A methodology to address social concerns on electricity planning

The topic Sustainable Development has brought a wide discussion across a number of sectors in our society, namely in Power Systems. Given the need to address other concerns than the economic ones, decision makers must take into account the rationale that lies beneath strategic choices, such as investing in generation technologies using renewable energy or rather doing business as usual and installing fossil fuel power plants. In this paper logic models were used as a decision-aid supporting tool, with the aim of contributing to explain the connection between building a given power plant and assessing its possible impacts in terms of sustainable development. All the electricity generation technologies were grouped in thermal, renewable energy sources (RES) and nuclear. The literature review fed the construction of three technology generation groups inference and relational diagrams to allow the visualization of environmental, social and economic causes and effects. The results of the literature review and of a set of interviews with experts, based on the diagrams, allowed to conclude that the use of RES have wider positive social impacts on the long run, despite their short-term higher costs compared to the traditional groups (nuclear and thermal).This work was financed by: the QREN – Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors, the European Union – European Regional Development Fund and National Funds- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-011377 and Project Pest-OE/EME/UI0252/2011

Sustainability assessment of electricity production using a logic models approach

The topic Sustainable Development has brought a wide discussion across a number of sectors in our society, namely in Power Systems. Given the need to address other concerns than the economic ones, decision makers must take into account the rationale that lies beneath strategic choices, such as investing in generation technologies using renewable energy or rather doing business as usual and installing fossil fuel power plants. In this paper logic models were used as a decision-aid supporting tool, with the aim of contributing to the assessment of the possible impacts of different power plants in terms of sustainable development. The analyzed electricity generation technologies were grouped in thermal, renewable energy sources (RESs) and nuclear. The literature review fed the construction of three relational diagrams to allow the visualization of environmental, social and economic causes and effects of the three groups of technologies. Departing from these initial diagrams a set of interviews with experts was conducted to enrich and validate the logic models. The results of the literature review and of these interviews allowed to conclude that the use of RES has wider positive social impacts on the long run, despite their short-term higher costs compared to the traditional groups (nuclear and thermal). These logic models revealed to be a useful tool providing a valuable starting approach for an Impact Assessment of the ongoing change that power systems have been going through.This work was financed by the QREN – Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors, the European Union – European Regional Development Fund and National Funds – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-011377 and Project Pest-OE/EME/UI0252/2011

Sustainability in small-medium-artisanal mining enterprises in Brazil

Small-Medium and Artisanal (SMA) companies from the mining sector have an important role on the regional development of the community and areas where they are located in Brazil. These companies should then be considered as drivers to disseminate and promote the principles of sustainability to their stakeholders. Nonetheless, these companies face many challenges on implementing good environmental practices, due to their characteristics, such as, operating under illegal situationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio