Envolvendo os pescadores artesanais no desenvolvimento sustentável urbano e periurbano no Brasil

La expansión de las aglomeraciones costeras urbanas núcleos de población en crecimiento, actividad económica y deterioro ambiental en una ubicación territorial que conecta los ecosistemas terrestres y oceánicos desafía la Agenda 2030 del desarrollo sostenible inclusivo. Las consecuencias afectaron a las comunidades pesqueras de los países en desarrollo que enfrenta varios  desafíos para su propio bienestar. Este estudio analiza la perspectiva que coloca a las comunidades pesqueras descuidadas en Brasil en el centro de las estrategias de desarrollo urbano bajo las directrices de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible.A  expansão  das  aglomerações  costeiras  urbanas  núcleos  de  população  em crescimento,  atividade econômica e deterioração ambiental em uma localização territorial que liga os ecossistemas terrestres e oceânicos-desafia a  Agenda  2030 do  desenvolvimento sustentável inclusivo.  Como consequência as  comunidades pesqueiras  dos  países  em  desenvolvimento  enfrentam  vários  desafios  para o seu próprio  bem-estar.  Este  estudo  analisa  a  perspectiva  que  coloca  as comunidades  pesqueiras negligenciadas do Brasil no centro das estratégias de desenvolvimento urbano  sob as diretrizes dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável.A  expansão  das  aglomerações  costeiras  urbanas  núcleos  de  população  em crescimento,  atividade econômica e deterioração ambiental em uma localização territorial que liga os ecossistemas terrestres e oceânicos-desafia a  Agenda  2030 do  desenvolvimento sustentável inclusivo.  Como consequência as  comunidades pesqueiras  dos  países  em  desenvolvimento  enfrentam  vários  desafios  para o seu próprio  bem-estar.  Este  estudo  analisa  a  perspectiva  que  coloca  as comunidades  pesqueiras negligenciadas do Brasil no centro das estratégias de desenvolvimento urbano  sob as diretrizes dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável.A  expansão  das  aglomerações  costeiras  urbanas  núcleos  de  população  em crescimento,  atividade econômica e deterioração ambiental em uma localização territorial que liga os ecossistemas terrestres e oceânicos-desafia a  Agenda  2030 do  desenvolvimento sustentável inclusivo.  Como consequência as  comunidades pesqueiras  dos  países  em  desenvolvimento  enfrentam  vários  desafios  para o seu próprio  bem-estar.  Este  estudo  analisa  a  perspectiva  que  coloca  as comunidades  pesqueiras negligenciadas do Brasil no centro das estratégias de desenvolvimento urbano  sob as diretrizes dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Envolvendo os pescadores artesanais no desenvolvimento sustentável urbano e periurbano no Brasil

A expansão das aglomerações costeiras urbanas núcleos de população em crescimento, atividade econômica e deterioração ambiental em uma localização territorial que liga os ecossistemas terrestres e oceânicos- desafia a Agenda 2030 do desenvolvimento sustentável inclusivo. Como consequência as comunidades pesqueiras dos países em desenvolvimento enfrentam vários desafios para o seu próprio bem-estar. Este estudo analisa a perspectiva que coloca as comunidades pesqueiras negligenciadas do Brasil no centro das estratégias de desenvolvimento urbano sob as diretrizes dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável.La expansión de las aglomeraciones costeras urbanas núcleos de población en crecimiento, actividad económica y deterioro ambiental en una ubicación territorial que conecta los ecosistemas terrestres y oceánicos desafía la Agenda 2030 del desarrollo sostenible inclusivo. Las consecuencias afectaron a las comunidades pesqueras de los países en desarrollo que enfrenta varios desafíos para su propio bienestar. Este estudio analiza la perspectiva que coloca a las comunidades pesqueras descuidadas en Brasil en el centro de las estrategias de desarrollo urbano bajo las directrices de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

Urban context and climate change impact on the thermal performance and ventilation of residential buildings: a case-study in Athens

Joint conference with the 11th TightVent Conference and the 9th Venticool ConferenceUrban settings and climate change both impact energy use, thermal comfort and ventilation of buildings. This is more noticeable in hot urban areas where the urban heat island effect is more pronounced; also, in densely built urban areas where thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings is affected by changes in natural ventilation rates because of surrounding obstructions. In some cases, overshadowing might alleviate the impact. This paper presents a study of changes in energy demand in residential buildings considering the overlapping effect of climate change and urban heat island intensity in Athens representing a hot European climate and a dense urban setting. The case study building is a real residential building in an urban canyon in central Athens with data obtained from the PRELUDE H2020 project. The impact of urban parameters on air temperature wind speed and solar overshadowing was considered. Urban air temperature was calculated by using the Urban Weather Generator which includes a number of indices such as site coverage, façade to site ratio and average building height; it also considers the building construction materials as well as anthropogenic heat emissions by the operation of the buildings. Urban wind speed was modified using the URBVENT urban canyon model for the computation of wind speed; this model was validated by its proposers in 2005 by measurements in Athens. Solar overshadowing was calculated for the case-study building considering the surrounding buildings. Current-urban and future-urban weather files were generated, and simulations were run considering energy demand and indoor thermal comfort. The thermal simulation results show that in the hot European climate of Athens with densely built urban areas and for a building within an urban canyon, current weather files which include overshadowing, urban heat island and canyon wind will increase the cooling demand by 24% in comparison to using a typical current weather file. However total energy demand (heating and cooling) increased only 3% for lower floors and 12% for higher floors due to the reduction of heating demand. Simulations using future weather files indicated a 66% increase of cooling demand in comparison to using a typical weather file. Future total energy demand increased by 32% for higher floors and 13% for lower floors. If the building is free floating an adaptive thermal comfort analysis indicated that only 25% of the summertime will be comfortable in comparison to the 50% prediction by the current typical weather file. Therefore, the use a suitable weather file to include urban external conditions in thermal simulations is essential for more accurate predictions of energy demand and internal avoidance of overheating in free-floating buildings.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement N° 958345 for the PRELUDE project (https://preludeproject.eu)

Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Effect of Linseed Oils on Pure Cellulosic Paper Supports. A Research Matter of Damage Assessment

Oil media on paper, such as oil paintings, sketches, prints, and books, occasionally present problems associated with the effect of oil medium on the paper support, raising a composite matter of condition assessment as it depends on several factors. The present work examines the effect of linseed oil on paper and, in particular, the changes caused by three types of linseed oil on the optical, morphological, mechanical, and chemical properties of pure cellulosic paper, employing mock-ups submitted to artificial ageing in controlled conditions of relative humidity and temperature in airtight vessels. The study involved colorimetry, opacity, tensile strength, pH measurements, SEM, FTIR, and VOC analysis with GC-MS. Processing of the results has so far indicated that thermal-humid ageing caused the gradual darkening of the oil-impregnated mock-ups, as well as alterations in opacity, intense fall of pH values, and severe reductions in tensile strength, while linseed oil processing during manufacture has a significant impact. FTIR spectra have indicated that chemical changes upon ageing are in accordance with those of optical and mechanical changes, while VOC emissions are mostly associated with the drying and degradation of the different types of linseed oil

Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Effect of Linseed Oils on Lignocellulosic Paper Supports

Condition assessment of works of art created with oil media on paper could be a complex matter when presenting problems of damage due to the absorption of oil binders by the paper support, since they depend on several factors and occur in variable conditions. The present work refers to the results of an investigation on the effect of linseed oils on the color, opacity, morphology, tensile strength, and chemical properties of lignocellulosic papers, in comparison to that of pure cellulosic papers. Lignocellulosic papers are involved in research on new, yet significant, parameters that might influence the behavior of the oil-impregnated areas of the supports upon aging. The research was applied to mock-ups, made of two types of lignocellulosic paper impregnated with three types of linseed oil and subjected to accelaratated ageing in specific conditions of relative humidity and temperature in closed environment. The research involved colorimetry, opacity, tensile strength, pH measurements, SEM, FTIR, and VOC analysis with GC-MS. The results indicated that thermal-humid ageing caused the gradual darkening of the oil-impregnated mock-ups, alterations in opacity, and decrease of pH values, depending mainly on the formulation of linseed oil, as well as a reduction in tensile strength. FTIR analysis results indicated that the chemical changes that occur upon ageing supported the recorded optical and mechanical alterations, while VOC emissions are both associated with the paper type and the kinetics of degradation of the different types of linseed oil

Efficient separation of rare earths recovered by a supported ionic liquid from bauxite residue leachate

Bauxite residue (BR) contains substantial concentrations of rare-earth elements (REEs), but their recovery is a challenge. Acidic BR leachates typically comprise much higher concentrations of base elements (g L−1) than those of the REEs (ppm). Thus, adsorbents that are highly selective for the REEs over the base elements are required for the separation. The novel supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) betainium sulfonyl(trifluoromethanesulfonylimide) poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) [Hbet-STFSI-PS-DVB] was evaluated for the uptake of REEs (Sc, Y, Nd, Dy) in the presence of base elements (Ca, Al, Fe) from BR leachates. Breakthrough curves from acidic nitrate and sulfate media were investigated, as both HNO3 and H2SO4 are commonly used for leaching of BR. The SILP exhibited a superior affinity for REEs in both media, except in the case of Sc(III) from the sulfate feed. The recovery rates of the trace amounts of REEs from the real nitrate feed were remarkably high (71.7–100%) via a simple chromatography separation, without requiring complexing agents or a pretreatment for the removal of interfering elements. The REEs were purified from the base elements and separated into three sub-groups (scandium, light REEs and heavy REEs) by an optimized elution profile with H3PO4 and HNO3 in a single chromatographic separation step

Innovating together for just and green urban transitions: Stories from Urban ReLeaf Cities

Nature-based solutions in urban environments can provide cooling effects, decrease air pollution, and improve mental health, amongst others important ecosystem services and health-related benefits. Ambitious plans, such as the pledge to plant 3 billion trees in the EU, the European Green Deal, or the Green City Accord support this direction. Their implementation, however, requires transformative changes on the ground to overcome business as usual approaches. The Urban ReLeaf project delivers change by bringing public authorities and citizen groups together to shape green infrastructure actions in their cities. Six pilot cities co-create citizen-centric innovations for the democratisation of urban greenspace monitoring and the wider policy making process in pursuit of urban climate resilience. This poster showcases the stories of the six cities and their approaches to participatory, and data-driven decision making. Athens is undergoing a greening transformation with a new, citizen-powered tree registry providing critical data for better management of greenspaces. Cascais engages citizens in sharing perceptions and thermal comfort levels while using greenspaces to validate the effectiveness of its parks. Meanwhile in Dundee, a city facing increasing grey infrastructure in deprived areas, actions to enhance the accessibility of greenspaces are co-developed with citizens and stakeholders. Mannheim has a heat action plan to safeguard its most vulnerable residents but has identified critical data gaps. Citizen observations of trees and thermal comfort, when integrated with official data streams, will aid the delivery of climate adaptation measures. Riga engages diverse audiences to address concerns about air pollution and greenspace usage, to ensure better informed policies. Finally, in Utrecht, data on temperature, humidity and heat stress, collected by and for citizens, will help them reduce the urban heat island effect and shape effective mitigation strategies

Seismic resistance of traditional timber-frame hımış

Hımış structures have hardly ever found as extensive a role as other traditional timber housing, such as those originating from Japan or Central Europe, within the wide discourse on the seismic performance of timber-frame architecture that has gained significant momentum in the last few decades owing to advancing testing technologies. While the hımış construction technique was perhaps not born as a result of a conscious search for a seismically resistant building form, it was soon widely appreciated for its structural features advantageous under seismic loading - especially from the sixteenth century when it has become a well-established construction technique in part of the Balkans and in today’s Turkey. Despite widely available anecdotal information based on post-disaster studies regarding its performance under earthquakes, robust quantitative data on the seismic behaviour of these structures were practically non-existent until quite recently, and are still somewhat limited. However, we are now able to confirm that hımış constructions do have intrinsic qualities that are very beneficial under seismic action. This paper aims to make a brief review of the current state of our knowledge on structural performance of hımış buildings under earthquake loading, with specific emphasis on infill/cladding techniques, connection details and energy dissipation characteristics

Image processing methods and algorithms for accurate protein spot detection in 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE)

The main goal of this doctoral dissertation is the development of new methods for improving the accuracy and efficiency of the spot detection and quantification processes when analyzing 2-DGE images. Image analysis is still considered the bottleneck of a differential expression proteomics analysis workflow due of the large variability in the expression profiles of the spots present on the 2DGE images. There are several commercial software packages that promise automation of the whole spot detection and quantification process, but the hard reality today is that they achieve acceptable performance only after a lot of manual spor editing. A first limitation to be addressed is the lack of sophisticated methods for effective denoising. To this end, a novel methodology was developed, based on the Contourlet Transform. An extensive evaluation of its denoising capabilities has been performed using both synthetic and real gel images. It is demonstrated that it leads to improved SNR, and less distortions, relatively to spatial filtering and wavelet based methods developed recently. Since denoising comes early in the image analysis pipeline, the realized benefits are shown to have a very positive effect on downstream analysis operations. For isolating the image background from areas that include protein spots, a new method was introduced, based on Active Contours without Edges, which is shown to be successful, even in areas with faint and/or saturated spots. Finally, individual spots are located within these areas and their volumes are estimated, using a pipeline of unsupervised machine learning operations: 1D mixture modeling of the intensities histogram is applied first to eliminate background pixels. The surviving pixels are then treated as “molecule generators”, to reveal the distribution of the underlying protein species, manifested as spots on the gel image. This reverse engineering approach constitutes a unique innovation of this work has not been applied in biomedical image analysis before. Finally, by fitting 2D Gaussian models on the generated (by random sampling) “molecules” dataset the individual spots boundaries and their quantities are estimated. It is shown that the developed methodology achieves more precise spot detection and more accurate spot quantification than commercially available software tools. Furthermore, it can be fully automated, not requiring any re-calibration every time a new image is analyzed.Η διατριβή αυτή στοχεύει στην ανάπτυξη πρωτότυπων μεθόδων ανάλυσης εικόνας για τη βελτίωση της ακρίβειας ανίχνευσης και ποσοτικοποίησης πρωτεϊνικών κηλίδων σε πρωτεομικές εικόνες δισδιάστατης ηλεκτροφόρησης (2DGE). Η ανάλυση εικόνων πρωτεομικής παραμένει δύσκολη λόγω της μεγάλης ποικιλίας του προφίλ έκφρασης των κηλίδων που αυτές απεικονίζουν. Σήμερα για να παραχθούν αποδεκτά αποτελέσματα χρειάζονται ώρες χειρωνακτικής εργασίας ανά εικόνα. Ξεκινώντας με την υποβάθμιση του θορύβου, που επηρεάζει πολύ τα επόμενα στάδια της ανάλυσης, αναπτύχθηκε πρωτότυπη μέθοδος αποθορυβοποίησης (denoising) με χρήση του μετασχηματισμού Contourlet. Τα αποτελέσματα της αξιολόγησης έδειξαν ότι βελτιώνει σημαντικά τη σηματοθορυβική σχέση (SNR) και μειώνει τις παραμορφώσεις σε σχέση με προηγούμενες μεθόδους βασισμένες σε τεχνικές βασισμένες στα κυματίδια (wavelets). Στην συνέχεια αναπτύχθηκε πρωτότυπη μέθοδος, βασισμένη στα ενεργά περιγράμματα χωρίς ακμές (Active Contours without Edges), για τον διαχωρισμό περιοχών που περιέχουν κηλίδες από αυτές του φόντου. Η απομόνωση περιοχών ενδιαφέροντος αποδείχθηκε ότι είναι πολύ αξιόπιστη ακόμα και σε περιοχές με κηλίδες χαμηλής έντασης (faint spots). Τέλος, με χρήση κατάλληλα τροποποιημένων, μη επιτηρήσιμων μεθόδων μηχανικής μάθησης ανιχνεύονται οι επιμέρους κηλίδες και εκτιμάται ο όγκος τους. Αρχικά εφαρμόζονται μίξεις μονο-διάστατων μοντέλων Gauss στα ιστογράμματα των εντάσεων των εικονοστοιχείων, ώστε να απομακρυνθεί το παραμένον τοπικό φόντο. Τα εναπομείναντα εικονοστοιχεία θεωρούνται κατόπιν ως γεννήτριες μοριακών δεδομένων, μια διαδικασία ανάστροφης μηχανικής (από τα εικονοστοιχεία πίσω στις κατανομές των μορίων των πρωτεϊνών). Αυτές τις κατανομές προσπαθούμε κατόπιν να απο-μείξουμε (unmix) με αυτόματη προσαρμογή δισδιάστατων Gaussian μοντέλων. Αυτή η πρωτοποριακή τεχνική (που δεν έχει χρησιμοποιηθεί για την ανάλυση εικόνας στη βιβλιογραφία) είναι πλήρως συμβατή με την φυσική σημασία της «δημιουργίας» τοπικών συγκεντρώσεων μορίων των πρωτεϊνών, όπως ακριβώς γίνεται με τη χωροθέτηση των πρωτεϊνών στα πηκτώματα κατά τη δισδιάστατη ηλεκτροφόρηση, και πριν αυτά σκαναριστούν για να προκύψουν οι προς ανάλυση εικόνες. Αποδεικνύεται (με χρήση πολλών πραγματικών και συνθετικών εικόνων) ότι η μέθοδος βελτιώνει σημαντικά την ακρίβεια ανίχνευσης και ποσοτικοποίησης των κηλίδων. Τέλος, η όλη αναπτυχθείσα μέθοδος είναι απολύτως αυτοματοποιημένη και δεν απαιτεί επαναπροσδιορισμό παραμέτρων κάθε φορά που αναλύεται μια νέα εικόνα

Interest groups in higher education policy in Europe: The creation of european higher education area and the interrelation of public policies for higher education, employment and regional development

This thesis approaches the field of higher education public policy at the focal point of its transition from the national to the European level of governance that take place eminently with the Bologna Process and the objective for creating the European Higher Education Area. This undertaking contributes in the creation of a policy community which is set by the objective for sustainable growth based on the Lisbon Strategy and later by the EE 2020 strategy creating the conditions for the Europeanization of this specific field while also creating a spillover effect to the total spectrum of EU’s educational policies. The explanatory framework for the changing conditions in this specific policy field highlights the institutional role of the university which according to the "triple helix” interrelates with the changes occurring within the sphere of politics and economy. The globalization phenomenon and the changes in the job market the new role of policy networks and interest groups bring about a new mode of governance for the European policy, but also for higher education. The new mode of governance in higher education is set both at the adoption of the administrative culture with the emergence of quality assurance mechanisms but also in the pedagogical change towards a student centered learning model. Finally, the case study of Greece is set to investigate the terms of the policy implementation occurring with the Bologna Process guidelines aiming also in reveling Greece’s higher education specific characteristics.Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή προσεγγίζει τη δημοσία πολιτική για την ανώτατη εκπαίδευση κατά το στάδιο μετάβασής της από τα εθνικά στα ευρωπαϊκά πλαίσια διαχείρισης. Πρόκειται για τη μετάβαση που κατεξοχήν συντελείται με την διαδικασία της Μπολόνιας και τον στόχο δημιουργίας ενός Ευρωπαϊκού Χώρου Ανώτατης Εκπαίδευσης. Το εγχείρημα αυτό συντείνει στην δημιουργία μιας κοινότητας πολιτικής η οποία επικαθορίζεται από τους στόχους της αειφόρου ανάπτυξης που αναδεικνύονται αρχικά με την στρατηγική της Λισαβόνας και μετέπειτα με το εγχείρημα ΕΕ 2020 επιδρώντας καθοριστικά στον εξευρωπαϊσμό του εν λογού πεδίου άλλα και συνολικά καθιστώντας μια νέα δυναμική επιδράσεων στο ευρύτερο πεδίο των εκπαιδευτικών πολιτικών της ΕΕ. Η ερμηνευτική διάσταση στην συντελούμενη αυτή αλλαγή τοποθετεί στο προσκήνιο τον θεσμό του Πανεπιστήμιου ο οποίος ακολουθώντας την σχέση του «τριπλού έλικα» (triple helix) τοποθετείται ενεργά συμμέτοχος στις εξελίξεις άλλα και στις αλλαγές που ανατροφοδοτούνται μεταξύ της πολιτικής και της οικονομίας. Η παγκοσμιοποίηση και οι αλλαγές στην αγορά της εργασίας, ο νέος ρόλος των δικτύων πολιτικής και των ομάδων συμφερόντων αναδεικνύουν μια καινούργια διάσταση μηχανισμών διακυβέρνησης για την ευρωπαϊκή πολιτική άλλα και για την ανώτατη εκπαίδευση. Το νέο πρότυπο στην ανώτατη εκπαίδευση αφορά τόσο στην υιοθέτηση της διαχειριστικής κουλτούρας με την ανάδειξη μηχανισμών διασφάλισης της ποιότητας, όσο και στην αλλαγή του προτύπου προσφοράς ανώτατης εκπαίδευσης σύμφωνα με την φοιτητικό-κεντρική μάθηση. Τέλος, προσεγγίζεται η ελληνική ανώτατη εκπαίδευση ως περιπτωσιολογική μελέτη διερεύνησης των όρων εφαρμογής των συντελούμενων αλλαγών που προκύπτουν από την διαδικασία της Μπολόνιας, στοχεύοντας ταυτόχρονα στην ανάδειξη των ιδιαίτερων χαρακτηριστικών της