Study of the of the concept of community buildings and its importance for land use efficiency

Nowadays cities are facing several environmental problems due to the population migration to urban areas, which is causing urban sprawl. This way, it is very important to define solutions to improve Land Use Efficiency (LUE). This article proposes the use of community buildings features as a solution to increase land use efficiency. Community buildings consider the design of shared building spaces to reduce the floor area of buildings. This work tests the performance of some case-study buildings regarding LUE to analyse its possible pros and cons. A quantifiable method is used to assess buildingsâ LUE, which considers the number of occupants, the gross floor area, the functional area, the implantation area and the allotment area. Buildings with higher values for this index have reduced environmental impacts because they use less construction materials, produce less construction and demolition wastes and require less energy for building operation. The results showed that the use of community building features can increase Land Use Efficiency of buildings.

Assessment of the efficiency of prefabricated hybrid composite plates (HCPs) for retrofitting of damaged interior RC beam–column joints

The effectiveness of prefabricated hybrid composite plates (HCPs) as a seismic retrofitting solution for damaged interior RC beam-column joints is experimentally studied. HCP is composed of a thin plate made of strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) reinforced with CFRP sheets/laminates. Two full-scale severely damaged interior beam-column joints are retrofitted using two different configurations of HCPs. The effectiveness of these retrofitting solutions mainly in terms of hysteretic response, dissipated energy, degradation of secant stiffness, displacement ductility and failure modes are compared to their virgin states. According to these criteria, both solutions resulted in superior responses regarding the ones registered in their virgin states.

Evaluation of foamed bitumen efficiency in warm asphalt mixtures recycling

The recycling of pavements is nowadays a very important question to the road paving industry. With the objective of incorporating higher percentages of reclaimed asphalt (RA) materials in recycled asphalt mixtures, new techniques have been developed in the last years. The use of foamed bitumen is normally associated with the production of cold asphalt mixtures, which usually show lower quality standards. However, the objective of the work presented in this paper is to assess the use of foamed bitumen as the binder of warm asphalt mixtures incorporating 30% RA, which have quality standards similar to those of conventional mixtures. Thus, five mixtures have been produced with 30% RA, one of them with a conventional bitumen (control mix) and the others with foamed bitumen at different production temperatures. The mixtures were tested for compactability and water sensitivity and the results show a possible reduction of 25 ºC in the production temperatures, while the water sensitivity test results were kept close to 90 %.

A case study of product usability of a pelvic device used by children with neuromotor impairments

On assistive technology targeted for people with activity limitations and participation, usability issues becomes an essential tool to ensure that the product has the appropriate ergonomics characteristics, in other words, ensure that it fits the specific user´s needs. The aim of this study was to analyze the usability of an adaptive seating device for children with neuromotor impairments, by using kinematic indicators of the reaching movement. The study sample consisted of 13 children with associated neurologic conditions. The tests were developed by using a wooden bench height adjustable, integrated with the adaptive seating device under study, and a system to capture three-dimensional image, called Qualisys Track Manager. The following reaching kinematics variables were measured: maximum reaching velocity, movement duration, index of curvature, and unit movements. It was found that the use of the adaptive seating device had a positive impact on upper limb function in children with neuromotor impairments. It was also noticed an improvement in the reaching movement kinematics, which was statistical significant for the index of curvature and unit movements. As main conclusions, it is possible to point out some positive effects that the product under study seems to have on users' movements, such as the improved movement quality of the upper limb, which could mean a better postural adjustments and higher trunk postural control. By identifying new measures of usability in terms of effectiveness and efficiency for the analyzeddevice, the results obtained may serve also as performance indicators, providing new data that may help to improve the product and eventually modifying it, in order to turn it more compatible with the needs of the considered target population.

SQI – A quality assessment index for rock slopes

In this work, an empirical system was developed to obtain a quality index for rock slopes in road infrastructures, named Slope Quality Index (SQI), and it was applied to a set of real slopes. The SQI is supported in nine factors affecting slope stability that contemplate the evaluation of different parameters. Consequently, each factor is classified by degree of importance and influence by assigned weights. These weights were established through a statistical analysis of replies to a survey that was distributed to several experienced professionals in the field. The proposed SQI varies between 1 and 5, corresponding to slopes in very good and very bad condition state, respectively. Besides the advantage linked to a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of slopes, the SQI also allows identifying the most critical factors on the slope stability, which is a fundamental issue for an efficient management of the slope network in the road infrastructure, namely in the planning of conservation and maintenance operations.

The importance of the category of consciousness and education for sustainability in methodologies for eco‐efficiency in school buildings

This document reports the importance of the category of consciousness and education for sustainability in the school environment. Education in school has a potential to make the benefits of the building construction visible for society and media, showing to the students, parents and communities how sustainability in built environment could improve the people life in economic, social and environment aspects. Thus, this paper addresses the main events related to sustainability, such as the Stockholm Conference, the Brundtland report, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and Agenda 21, until reaching the necessity of the elaboration of Methodologies for environmental assessment of building, and later, the development of the specific methodologies according to the buildings. It is also described some examples of sustainability in schools in Germany, Finland and Italy and what kind of sustainable systems those countries are currently using.

Discussing Chevalier’s data on the efficiency of tariffs for american and french canals in the 1830s

This article revisits Michel Chevalier’s work and discussions of tariffs. Chevalier shifted from Saint-Simonism to economic liberalism during his life in the 19th century. His influence was soon perceived in the political world and economic debates, mainly because of his discussion of tariffs as instruments of efficient transport policies. This work discusses Chevalier’s thoughts on tariffs by revisiting his masterpiece, Le Cours d’Économie Politique. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was conducted to test Chevalier’s hypothesis on the inefficiency of French tariffs. This work showed that Chevalier’s claims on French tariffs are not validated by DEA.

Cohesion policy in the European Union: a brief critical review

Over the past four decades the EU cohesion policy’s focus, objectives and content have experienced significant changes as a result of successive reforms aiming at adapting it to a Union in constant evolution. In the early stages, cohesion policy had eminently redistributive goals and it assumed an explicit spatial dimension. In the late nineties, the possibility of an extension towards Eastern European countries and the limited willingness of net contributors to increase funding led to a turning point in cohesion policy. The increased importance of economic growth and job creation in the 2000’s, within the cohesion policy’s context, has led to a misrepresentation of its essence and motivations. Cohesion was losing importance towards competitiveness and regional equity towards national efficiency. Today, cohesion policy is for many EU countries the main mean for mobilising investment in a context of budgetary constraints and credit rationing. In light of the available evidence, it is likely that the overall design and priorities of the current cohesion policy have a limited impact in terms of convergence in many EU regions, especially in the less developed regions. This paper’s main objectives are to analyse the evolution of European cohesion policy throughout its history, to present a picture of cohesion policy in the 2014-2020 programming period and to discuss the main problems associated with its design, priorities and programming model.

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy: impact of body mass index on outcomes

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy: impact of body mass index on outcomes

Ex situ collection of Limonium spp.: cytogenetic and reproductive characterization for the conservation of rare species

Dissertação mestrado em Biologia Molecular, Biotecnologia e Bioempreendedorismo em Plantas

Hot-dip galvanized steel dip-coatedwith ureasilicate hybrid in simulated concrete pore solution: Assessment of coating morphology and corrosion protection efficiency

The barrier effect and the performance of an organic–inorganic hybrid (OIH) sol–gel coating are highlydependent on the coating deposition method as well as processing conditions. In this work, studies onthe influence of experimental parameters using the dip coating method were performed. Factors suchas residence time (Rt), a curing step between each dip step and the number of layers of sol–gel OIHfilms deposited on HDGS to prevent corrosion in highly alkaline environments were studied. These OIHcoatings were obtained using a functionalized siloxane, 3-isociantepropyltriethoxysilane that reactedwith a diamino-functionalized oligopolymer (Jeffamine®D-230). The barrier efficiency of OIH coatings insimulated concrete pore solutions (SCPS) was assessed in the first moments of contact, by electrochemicalimpedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic methods. The durability and stability of the OIH coatings inSCPS was monitored during eight days by macrocell current density. The morphological characterizationof the surface was performed by scanning electronic microscopy before and after exposure to SCPS.Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy was used to obtain quantitative composition profiles toinvestigate the thickness of the OIH coatings as a function of the number of layers deposited and theinfluence of the Rt in the coating thickness.

Cost efficiency and resistance to chemical attack of a fly ash geopolymeric mortar versus epoxy resin and acrylic paint coatings

This article presents results of an experimental investigation on the resistance to chemical attack (with sulphuric, hydrochloric and nitric acid) of several materials: OPC concrete, high-performance concrete, epoxy resin, acrylic painting and a fly ash-based geopolymeric mortar). Three types of acids with three high concentrations (10, 20 and 30%) were used to simulate long-term degradation. A cost analysis was also performed. The results show that the epoxy resin has the best resistance to chemical attack independently of the acid type and the acid concentration. However, the cost analysis shows that the epoxy resin-based solution is the least cost-efficient solution being 70% above the cost efficiency of the fly ash-based geopolymeric mortar.

Development and characterization of lipid-based nanosystems for controlled release of bioactive compounds

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Química e Biológica.

Development of polymeric nanoparticles containing neuroprotective compounds of Hypericum perforatum

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia das Plantas - MAP BIOPLANT