Mechanical properties of adobe blocks used in building construction in Huambo Province - Angola

Despite significant advances in building technologies with the use of conventional construction materials (as concrete and steel), which significantly have driven the construction industry, earth construction have demonstrated its importance and relevance, as well as it has matched in an efficient and eco-friendly manner the social housing concerns. The diversity of earth construction techniques allowed this material to adapt to different climatic, cultural and social contexts until the present time. However, in Angola, the construction with earth is still associated with population fringes of weak economic resources, for which, given the impossibility of being able to acquire modern construction materials (steel, cement, brick, among others), they resort to the use of available natural materials. Furthermore, the lack of scientific and technical knowledge justifies the negative appreciation of traditional building techniques, and the derogatory way how are considered the earth constructions in Angolan territory. Given the country's current development status, and taking into account the environmental requirements and the real socio-economic sustainability of Angola, it is considered that one of the viable and adequate options, could be the recovering and upgrading of the ancestral techniques of earth construction. The purpose of this research is to develop the technical and scientific knowledge in order to improve and optimize these construction solutions, responding to the real problems of housing quality as well as to the current social, economic and environmental sustainability requirements. In this paper, a description of the physical and mechanical characteristics of the adobes typically used in the construction of traditional houses in some localities of Huambo, province in Angola, is carried out. The methodology was based on mechanical in-situ testing in adobe blocks manufactured with traditional procedures: i) tensile strength evaluated with the bending test and compressive strength test on earth blocks specimens; and, ii) durability and erodibility test by Geelong method adopting the New Zealand standard (NZS) procedures (4297: 1998; 4297: 1998 and 4297: 1999). The results allow the characterization of the materials used in the construction of raw earth in the Huambo region, contributing to the development of knowledge of these sustainable and traditional housing constructive solutions with a strong presence in Angola [1, 2]. This study is part of a larger project in the area of Earth Construction [3], which aims to produce knowledge which can stimulate the use of environmental friendly construction materials and contribute to develop constructive solutions with improved performance, durability, comfort, safety and sustainability.

Os direitos humanos em tempos de paz negativa. A Síria e a Somália como estudos de caso

A questão dos Direitos Humanos e as suas violações continuam a passar despercebidas a nível mundial. Perante uma Paz negativa, é o dever da comunidade internacional interferir na construção de Paz em Estados dominados pela violência e fazer esforços na prevenção de conflitos. Os confrontos que se alastram em diferentes regiões da Somália, sob controlo de grupos rebeldes e a escalada de violência que levou a uma crise humanitária na Síria, com habitantes de ambos os países a terem de se deslocar e a refugiarem-se em países vizinhos por não se sentirem seguros no próprio país, são os estudos de caso escolhidos para analisar o que tem falhado na sua resolução. É também necessário realçar a emergência dos Estudos da Paz, presentes na ordem do dia da política mundial na mediação de conflitos, na gestão de crises e cooperação nas sociedades afetadas pela violência; Abstract: Human Rights in times of negative peace. Syria and Somalia as case studies The human rights subject and their violations continue unnoticed in a global level. Faced with a negative peace, it is the duty of the internacional community to assist in building peace in states where violence dominates and make efforts in preventing conflicts. The deadly confrontations that spread through diferentes regions in Somalia, under the control of rebels groups, and the escalation of violence that led to a humanitarian crisis in Syria, with the population of both countries moving around and taking shelters in neighbor countries because they don’t feel safe in their own, are the case studies chosen to analyze what has failed in their solution. It is also necessary to enhance the emergency of Peace Studies, which comes in the agenda of world politics in conflict mediation, in crisis management and cooperation in societies affected by violence.