Fault activity studies in the Lower Tagus valley and Lisbon region using geophysical data

he Metropolitan Area of Lisbon and the Lower Tagus Valley (LTV) region are located in central Portugal and inhabited by nearly 4 million people. The region has suffered throughout its history the effect of destructive earthquakes caused by hidden faults, possibly related to the plate boundary, which is sited approximately 400 km south of the region (Figure 1). In spite of low slip-rates and big recurrence times that have been estimated for these local, regional faults, they can produce moderate-to-large earthquakes that cause large damage and loss of life, as in 1344, 1531, or 1909 (e.g. Justo and Salwa, 1998; Cabral et al., 2003; 2013). The shorter occurrence time of the earthquakes might be owing to the existence of multiple active faults and/or time clustering owing to stress drop caused by proximal faults (e.g. Carvalho et al., 2006). Therefore, the seismic hazard and risk evaluation of the region has long been a reason of concern. Geological outcrop and geomorphologic mapping identified several regional faults in the LTV region that could be the source the historical earthquakes, but some of them do not affect. Quaternary sediments and lacked the proofs that they were active faults. On the other side, in the vast quaternary alluvial plains that cover the region, it was difficult to identify active faults, as the sedimentation/erosion rates erase any possible surface rupture caused by the low slip-rate faults (<0,35 mm/y). By the late-20th century, seismic reflection data that had been acquired for the oil-industry till the beginning of the 1980s began to be used to identify the major hidden fault zones (e.g. Cabral et al., 2003; Vilanova and Fonseca, 2004; Carvalho et al., 2006). Potential field data was also used to locate active faults in the areas where no seismic data is available (Carvalho et al., 2008; 2011). Though a few more active faults have been proposed, the vast majority of authors agree that the following active faults threaten the region: Nazaré-Caldas da Rainha, Lower Tagus Valley, Ota, Azambuja, Vila Franca de Xira (VFX), Pinhal Novo and Porto Alto faults (Garcia-Mayordomo et al., 2012; Vilanova et al., 2014). In this work, we discuss the acquisition, processing and interpretation of near surface geophysical works carried out over three of these faults — the VFX, Porto Alto and Azambuja faults — in order to confirm they have had activity during the Holoceneera. Their location is shown in Figure 2. We further estimate some of its fault parameters (vertical displacement, slip-rate, length, etc.) and respective implications in terms of seismic hazard

SEA procedures and methods : the importance of baseline, political and pragmatic contexts

This Chapter critically examines procedures and methods that are applied in SEA, identifying strengths and weaknesses of analytical tools, what is missing and what we need to do better or differently. SEA has been increasingly understood by SEA academics and practitioners as a process rather than solely a technique (Bina, 2007). As such, it involves stakeholders with interests and power. Therefore, after an initial section on the background and state of the art of methods and procedures in SEA, the Chapter focuses on three main themes: baseline, political and pragmatic contexts. Through these themes the Chapter discusses how adaptive and robust SEA is in analyzing the impacts and issues that matter

Land Use Strategy (LUS) Delivery Evaluation Project : Volume 1: Main Report

Scotland’s first Land Use Strategy (LUS) – Getting the best from our land – was published in March 2011. The LUS is a requirement of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, highlighting the important contribution that Scottish Ministers expect land use and land management to make towards the climate change agenda in Scotland. The crucial component of the LUS are its ten principles for sustainable land use – the LUS Principles. The LUS Principles are the key mechanism by which the strategic intent of the national level LUS can be translated into regional and local level planning and decision-making, through existing land use delivery mechanisms, to inform action on the ground. The overall aim of the LUS Delivery Evaluation Project therefore was “to evaluate the range of current land use delivery mechanisms, to ascertain their effectiveness in translating the strategic Principles of the LUS into decision-making on the ground”. The evaluation considered eleven case study land use delivery mechanisms ranging from an urban Local Development Plan (LDP) to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Partnership Plan

Recognising 'learning' as an uncertain source of SEA effectiveness

Strategic environmental assessment’s (SEA’s) capacity to profile significant environmental effects is thought to help make public-sector decision-making more sustainable. Acknowledgement is growing that ‘learning’, that links to but transcends individual assessments, is a key source of SEA effectiveness. Such learning is largely positioned as wholesome, moral, as ‘good’. The Scottish Parliament went further than the European Commission to require all public bodies to engage with SEA. More than 14 years of evidence–including from the Scottish Government SEA Database (an online registry), a survey and interviews–provides a unique opportunity to study the role of learning in SEA. The paper argues that application of SEA requires systematic reinforcement and maintenance of learning. But the learning fostered by SEA is not guaranteed to prioritise or protect ‘environment’–for that to happen SEA must also be embraced as disruptor of the prioritisation of economic goals

Successful isolation and cultivation of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii strains isolated from finished drinking water samples

This work presents the successful establishment of Cylindrospermosis raciborskii cultures isolated from water samples collected at the exit point of Water Treatment Plant (WTP). An intense bloom dominated by filamentous cyanobacteria (Aphanizomenon spp., Planktothrix spp., Cylindrospermosis raciborskii, Anabaena spp.) occurred in the summer of 2015 in Roxo reservoir (south Portugal). Several cyanotoxins (microcystins, saxitoxins, cylindrospermopsin) were detected in raw and treated water, although at levels below the corresponding regulatory and/or guideline values. Nevertheless, this bloom caused intense unpleasant odour and taste in the water supplied to the populations and cyanobacterial cells (up to 1000 cells.mL-1) were detected in finished water samples collected at the exit point of WTP. Treated water samples collected at the WTP and at the city water deposit were inoculated in Z8 culture medium and cyanobacterial growth was followed by optical microscopy. After 30 days, cyanobacterial growth was observed showing resistance to the treatment processes and maintenance of reprodution capacity. Interestingly, morphometric and molecular analysis revealed the presence of C. raciborskii. Three isolates of this species were obtained and none were cylindrospermopsin- or microcystins-producers, as confirmed by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) and by amplification of genes (PS, PKS, mcyA-cd, mcyAB, mcyB) involved in those cyanotoxin synthesis. However, the ELISA for saxitoxins was positive for the 3 isolates and confirmation of this toxin production is in progress. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the establishment of successful cultures of C. raciborskii that survived to conventional water treatment processes.N/

Caracterização de Puccinia hemerocallidis causadora do primeiro surto de ferrugem de lírio-de-um-dia na Europa

Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.) is an ornamental plant widely used in gardens. Daylily rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis, has disseminated through all continents only in the 21th century, except in Europe, where it has been considered a quarantine disease by the European Plant Protection Organisation. In Portugal, since November 2015, typical rust symptoms were observed in daylily plants in gardens in Lisbon, Alentejo, Algarve and Madeira, attaining high prevalence, incidence and severity. The causal agent was identified as P. hemerocallidis and the Koch’s postulates were fulfilled. Phylogenetic data suggest that this fungus may have been introduced from North America. Using flow cytometry, the genome size of the P. hemerocallidis populations present in Portugal was estimated to be 345 Mbp (0.3533 pg DNA/1C). For such analysis Rhamnus alaternus was validated as a DNA standard, exhibiting a nuclear content of 0.680 pg DNA/2C. The identification of this disease in diverse locations in Portugal represents a threat to European breeding and nursery industries, since there are the appropriate conditions for inoculum maintenance and propagation from Portugal to the rest of Europeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial performance of fitness centers?

Purpose: This study aims to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the financial performance of fitness centers in Portugal, for this purpose, financial indicators are compared before and during the pandemic period. With this study we intend to understand if all or just some financial indicators had a negative impact with the pandemic. It is also the purpose of this paper to understand whether the financial performance of fitness centers depended on their size, number of employees and sales volume. Design/methodology/approach: The sample was obtained from the Sabi database. The elements for Portugal were: the Economic Activity Code 93130 – Gym activities (fitness) and the entities that had information for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 on: sales, EBITDA, EBIT, net income, solvency, borrowing, liquidity and number of employees. The sample is 689 entities. Results and conclusions: The results obtained showed statistically significant influences on variables such as: dimension and sales volume. There is statistical evidence that financial indicators obtained worse results in the years of the pandemic (2020 and 2021) essentially due to the period in which it was not possible to develop the activity in person.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Determination of benzoic acid and sorbic acid in foodstuffs by high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection

Publicado em artigo no Livro de atas do congresso - XIV Encontro de Química dos Alimentos, pp. 107-111.Introduction: In recent decades, there has been a change in the dietary pattern of the population towards an increase in consumption of more industrialized foods. With this, food industry has faced many challenges on maintaining the quality and nutritional value of the products and at the same time increasing the shelf life. Benzoic Acid (BA) and Sorbic Acid (SA), and its salts, are food preservatives responsible for inhibiting microorganism growth and thus, protecting food products from spoilage. Although these preseratives are recognized by the EFSA and FDA as being safe, there are concerns arising from their wide occurrence in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, that can lead to an increase of the daily intake and possible risks of exceeding the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Therefore, occurrence data are essential to ensure consumer safety through exposure assessment studies. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the presence of benzoic and sorbic acids in 23 samples of food products commercially available in the market, using a validated HPLC method with UV detection based on European Standard 12856, and compare their levels with the respective allowable limits.Study supported by Project MONITADITIVOS (INSA), Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the role of triple helix system intermediaries in nurturing an industrial biotechnology innovation network

The rate of transition to a circular economy would largely be influenced by how successfully sustainable niche innovation can be developed and adopted. This paper measures and evaluates the effectiveness of employing a triple helix-based system intermediary as a policy tool for nurturing a niche innovation network in line with circular economy transition. This was achieved through a complete social network analysis of a national industrial biotechnology innovation network, in which the organization functioning as network manager was innovatively structured as a triple helix-based system intermediary. Through unique access to the entire national industrial biotechnology niche network, a large set of primary data was collected on 13 types of relational ties related to innovation between all 64 public sector, industry and academic niche network member organizations. The impact of the triple helix-based system intermediary on the level of cohesion, presence of cohesive subgroups and centralisation of the niche network was empirically measured. As such, the effectiveness of the intermediary in undertaking key nurturing activities of building the network, facilitating shared learning and raising expectations were evaluated. This allowed for the most comprehensive empirical study to date on a niche innovation network and the role of system intermediaries in circular economy transition. The results of the analysis demonstrate the profound nurturing effect that the introduction of a triple helix-based system intermediary has had on the network. In particular, the results appear to confirm the effectiveness of the intermediary with regards to increasing knowledge and resource flows amongst triple helix institutions as well as between regime and niche actors

Strategic environmental assessment practices in European small islands : insights from Azores and Orkney islands

The literature concerning Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) often refers to the importance of context-specific approaches. However, there is a lack of systematised and consistent studies that enhance tailor-made SEA practices and procedures. Small islands are bounded units of study which may help explore SEA theory and practice in special territories. Small islands present particular features and unique values, such as, small size and population, geographic isolation, limited resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Hence, the main goal of this research was to profile SEA practices and procedures in European small islands and provide a background for future research aiming to improve context-specific SEA applications. To achieve this goal, an exploratory case study was developed using Azores (Portugal) and Orkney (Scotland) archipelagos. An analysis of the corresponding mainland was also carried out to contextualise both case studies. The data collection was achieved through a qualitative content analysis of 43 Environmental Reports. The research found that there is not an SEA context-specific approach used within these European small islands, including guidelines, assessment topics, assessment techniques, follow-up and stakeholders engagement. The debate concerning specific approaches to small islands must be re-focused on the enhancement of SEA capacity-building amongst different stakeholders (including decision-makers), on the development and implementation of collaborative approaches, and on the exchange of knowledge and experiences between small islands networks