Qualificação de edifícios residenciais verticais em Natal/RN à luz do regulamento técnico da qualidade para o nível de eficiência energética de edificações residenciais (RTQ-R)

The goal of the research was to investigate the energy performance of residential vertical buildings envelope in the hot and humid climate of Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, based in the Technical Regulation of Quality for Energy Efficiency Level in Residential Buildings (RTQ -R), launched in 2010. The study pretends to contribute to the development of design strategies appropriate to the specific local climate and the increasing of energy efficiency level of the envelope. The methodological procedures included the survey in 22 (twenty two) residential buildings, the formulation of representative prototypes based on typological and constructives characters researched and the classification of the level of energy efficiency in the envelopment of these prototypes, using as a tool the prescriptive method of the RTQ-R and the parametric analyzes from assigning different values of the following variables: shape of the pavement type; distribution of housing compartments; orientation of the building; area and shading of openings; thermal transmittance, and solar absorptance of opaque materials of the frontage in order to evaluate the influence of these on the envelopment performance. The main results accomplished with this work includes the qualification of vertical residential buildings in Natal/RN; the verification of the adequacy of these buildings to local climate based from the diagnosis of the thermal energy of the envelopment performance, the identification of variables with more significant influence on the prescriptive methodology of RTQ-R and design solutions more favorable to obtain higher levels energy efficiency by this method. Finally, it was verified, that some of these solutions proved contradictory in relation to the recommendations contained in the theoretical approaches regarding environmental comfort in hot and humid weather, which indicates the need for improvement of the prescriptive method RTQ-R and further research on efficient design solutions

Análise do comportamento e crescimento do camarão branco Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) em diferentes substratos inconsolidados

The aim of this study was to test the sediment preference of L. vannamei shrimp. It was observed shrimp visit frequency, swimming and burying behaviour at different sediment compositions for 24h. Juvenile (0.93 ± 0.29g) and sub-adult shrimps (10.0 ± 1.18g) were obtained from the aquaculture station at Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido UFERSA, and held in a plastic tank (water volume 500 L) supplied with aerated water and kept at constant temperature, pH, and salinity. Shrimp was fed by commercial shrimp dry food. The experimental substrates were composed by A: medium sand + thick sand + very thick sand + gravel; B: very fine sand + fine sand; and C: silt + clay. Thus, six different substrate combinations were tested: A, B, C, A+B, A+C, B+C. To test preference, it was used a cylindrical tank (40 l) divided into six differently substrate compartments. A single shrimp was introduced each tank and the frequency at which this shrimp visited each compartment was recorded over a 24h study period. It was tested 54 shrimp (18 sub-adult males, 18 subadult females and 18 juveniles). For each trial, sediment and water were changed to avoid pheromones and residues influence. Shrimp were weighted and sub-adults were divided by sex: males present petasma and females present thelycum. Data were collected on the experimental day at 19:30; 20:30; 00:30; 1:30; 05:30; 06:30; 13:30 and 14:30 h. At each time point, shrimp were observed for 20-min periods, in which we noted down which compartment the shrimp was occupying at 2-min intervals. Thus, for each period we had eleven observations (88 observations per day). For observations at night, it was used dim red light that did not affect shrimp behaviour. At each 20-min period, it was observed visit frequency in each substrate, if shrimp was burred or not or if it was swimming. There was not significant difference between light and dark burry activity for females. Swimming activity was significantly higher at night, mainly at 00:30 and 01:30 h. All L. vannamei shrimp showed preference for sediment B. This animal presents cyclic activity, spends the day light period buried and swims at night