Exploration of portuguese-bengal cultural heritage throught museological studies

The Portuguese came to Bengal in the early 16th century for trading. Between 1575 and 1600, they established many colonies on the banks of river Ganga, like Chinsura, Hooghly (Porto Pequeno), Satagaon, Gopalpur and Bandel, covering the eastern part of India. During their stay, Portuguese built many churches, schools and charitable institutions. Churches of Augustinians and Jesuits became popular tourist destinations until today. Although by the 18th century, the Portuguese presence had almost disappeared from Bengal with the emergence of British imperialism, the 500 years old (approx.) Portuguese culture is still living in modern Bengal, in the form of tangible and intangible heritage. Traces of the Portuguese impact could be seen in Bengali language, literature, folk-tales, folksongs, cuisines, agriculture, religion, cinema and trade. Some of these are included in the academic curriculum of history at school, college and university levels. In this context, research has been undertaken in the past and is still ongoing in several universities. However, heritage studies under a museological point of view have not yet been initiated at the university level. Though Goa, Panaji, Calicut, Chennai and Nagapattanam were the Portuguese centers for long periods and research has been conducted there along with the establishment of some museums,

Air pollution from traffic emissions in Oporto, Portugal: health and environmental implications

Air pollution represents a serious risk not only to environment and human health, but also to historical heritage. In this study, air pollution of the Oporto Metropolitan Area and its main impacts were characterized. The results showed that levels of CO, PM10 and SO2 have been continuously decreasing in the respective metropolitan area while levels of NOx and NO2 have not changed significantly. Traffic emissions were the main source of the determined polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; 16 PAHs considered by U.S. EPA as priority pollutants, dibenzo[a,l]pyrene and benzo[j]fluoranthene) in air of the respective metropolitan area. The mean concentration of 18 PAHs in air was 69.9±39.7 ng m−3 with 3–4 rings PAHs accounting for 75% of the total ΣPAHs. The health risk analysis of PAHs in air showed that the estimated values of lifetime lung cancer risks considerably exceeded the health-based guideline level. Analytical results also confirm that historical monuments in urban areas act as passive repositories for air pollutants present in the surrounding atmosphere. FTIR and EDX analyses showed that gypsum was the most important constituent of black crusts of the characterized historical monument Monastery of Serra do Pilar classified as “UNESCO World Cultural Heritage”. In black crusts, 4–6 rings compounds accounted approximately for 85% of ΣPAHs. The diagnostic ratios confirmed that traffic emissions were the major source of PAHs in black crusts; PAH composition profiles were very similar for crusts and PM10 and PM2.5.

Methodology for in-game certification in serious games

Serious games are starting to attain a higher role as tools for learning in various contexts, but in particular in areas such as education and training. Due to its characteristics, such as rules, behavior simulation and feedback to the player's actions, serious games provide a favorable learning environment where errors can occur without real life penalty and students get instant feedback from challenges. These challenges are in accordance with the intended objectives and will self-adapt and repeat according to the student’s difficulty level. Through motivating and engaging environments, which serve as base for problem solving and simulation of different situations and contexts, serious games have a great potential to aid players developing professional skills. But, how do we certify the acquired knowledge and skills? With this work we intend to propose a methodology to establish a relationship between the game mechanics of serious games and an array of competences for certification, evaluating the applicability of various aspects in the design and development of games such as the user interfaces and the gameplay, obtaining learning outcomes within the game itself. Through the definition of game mechanics combined with the necessary pedagogical elements, the game will ensure the certification. This paper will present a matrix of generic skills, based on the European Framework of Qualifications, and the definition of the game mechanics necessary for certification on tour guide training context. The certification matrix has as reference axes: skills, knowledge and competencies, which describe what the students should learn, understand and be able to do after they complete the learning process. The guides-interpreters welcome and accompany tourists on trips and visits to places of tourist interest and cultural heritage such as museums, palaces and national monuments, where they provide various information. Tour guide certification requirements include skills and specific knowledge about foreign languages and in the areas of History, Ethnology, Politics, Religion, Geography and Art of the territory where it is inserted. These skills are communication, interpersonal relationships, motivation, organization and management. This certification process aims to validate the skills to plan and conduct guided tours on the territory, demonstrate knowledge appropriate to the context and finally match a good group leader. After defining which competences are to be certified, the next step is to delineate the expected learning outcomes, as well as identify the game mechanics associated with it. The game mechanics, as methods invoked by agents for interaction with the game world, in combination with game elements/objects allows multiple paths through which to explore the game environment and its educational process. Mechanics as achievements, appointments, progression, reward schedules or status, describe how game can be designed to affect players in unprecedented ways. In order for the game to be able to certify tour guides, the design of the training game will incorporate a set of theoretical and practical tasks to acquire skills and knowledge of various transversal themes. For this end, patterns of skills and abilities in acquiring different knowledge will be identified.

Diagnóstico e avaliação da segurança de estruturas de madeira existentes

A utilização da madeira enquanto material estrutural é um aspeto abordado com algum receio ou até desconhecimento por parte dos elementos intervenientes no processo de construção civil, sendo ainda uma área pouco lecionada e muitas vezes excluída dos planos curriculares em Engenharia Civil. Assim sendo é importante o surgimento de trabalhos relacionados com esta matéria, relembrando ao sector da construção civil e ao ramo de estudo relacionado, que a madeira já teve e possivelmente voltará a ter um papel importante a desempenhar na área da construção. Um dos aspetos evidenciados nos estudos realizados consiste na importância da reabilitação de edifícios e do seu papel cada vez mais determinante na sociedade. Esta metodologia de intervenção apresenta-se muitas vezes como uma vantagem económica assim como contribui para a preservação do património arquitetónico e cultural, cujo valor histórico é incalculável. A importância da reabilitação de edifícios habitacionais nas zonas históricas, bem como de monumentos de grande importância cultural apresenta-se cada vez mais como um desafio devido à falta de conservação dos mesmos ao longo da sua vida útil, e da necessidade de preservar a identidade do local, beneficiando assim a qualidade do tecido urbano. Assim sendo, este trabalho apresenta um levantamento dos danos possíveis de ocorrer em elementos de madeira, dando especial destaque aos agentes patológicos e às consequências da sua atividade na madeira assim como às metodologias de inspeção e diagnóstico que poderão ser aplicadas em estruturas de madeira existentes, favorecendo assim a vertente da reabilitação ao invés da demolição. Estas metodologias recorrem a ensaios não destrutivos, como é exemplo o Pilodyn, o Resistógrafo, o Ultra-sons, etc., referindo também o recurso a ensaios destrutivos, cuja utilização terá de ser uma questão muito bem ponderada devido às consequências que implica. Por fim, apresenta-se um caso real de estudo em que se analisa um pavimento em madeira através da aplicação de metodologias de ensaio não destrutivas e destrutivas a amostras recolhidas. O objetivo será determinar o estado de conservação da madeira e algumas características físicas tais como a sua densidade e os módulos de elasticidade, sendo posteriormente efetuada uma análise estrutural. Os resultados obtidos permitem efetuar uma avaliação qualitativa do estado geral do pavimento sendo as principais conclusões que o pavimento se encontra atacado por parte de insetos xilófagos e apresenta problemas a nível de verificação a estados limite de utilização, deformação e vibração, fator que condiciona a possível utilização do pavimento.

Guia Termos de Referência de Isolamento Acústico na Reabilitação de Edifícios

Mestrado em Engenharia Civil – Ramo de Construções

Efficiency of strengthening techniques assessed for existing masonry buildings

The Azores archipelago is a zone with a vast cultural heritage, presenting a building stock mainly constructed in traditional stone masonry. It is known that this type of construction exhibits poor behaviour under seismic excitations; however it is extensively used in seismic prone areas, such as this case. The 9th of July of 1998 earthquake was the last seismic event in the islands, leaving many traditional stone constructions severely damaged or totally destroyed. This scenario led to an effort by the local government of improving the seismic resistance of these constructions, with the application of several reinforcement techniques. This work aims to study some of the most used reinforcement schemes after the 1998 earthquake, and to assess their effectiveness in the mitigation of the construction’s seismic vulnerability. A brief evaluation of the cost versus benefit of these retrofitting techniques is also made, seeking to identify those that are most suitable for each building typology. Thus, it was sought to analyze the case of real structures with different geometrical and physical characteristics, by establishing a comparison between the seismic performance of reinforced and non-reinforced structures. The first section contains the analysis of a total of six reinforcement scenarios for each building chosen. Using the recorded 1998 earthquake accelerograms, a linear time-history analysis was performed for each reinforcement scenario. A comparison was then established between the maximum displacements, inter-storey drift and maximum stress obtained, in order to evaluate the global seismic response of each reinforced structure. In the second part of the work, the examination of the performance obtained in the previous section, in relation to the cost of implementing each reinforcement technique, allowed to draw conclusions concerning the viability of implementing each reinforcement method, based on the book value of the buildings in study.

Transient Spaces: unsettling boundaries and norms at the cultural event Noc Noc, Guimarães, Portugal

Cities are increasingly expected to be creative, inventive and to exhibit intense expressivity. In the past decades many cities have experienced growing pressure to produce and stage cultural events of different sorts and to develop new strategies that optimize competitive advantages, in order to promote themselves and to boost and sell their image. Often these actions have relied on heavy public investment and major private corporation sponsoring, but it is not always clear or measured how successful and reproductive these investments have been. In the context of strained public finances and profound economic crisis of European peripheral countries, events that emerge from local communities and have low budgets, which manage to create significant fluxes of visitors and visibility, assume an increased interest. In order to reflect and sketch possible answers, we look to an emerging body of literature concerning creative cities, and we focus on the organisation of a particular cultural event and its impact and assimilation into a medium size Portuguese city. This paper looks at the two editions (2011 and 2012) of one of such events – Noc Noc – organized by a local association in the city of Guimarães, Portugal. Inspired by similar events, Noc Noc is based on creating transient spaces of culture which are explored by artists and audiences, by transforming numerous homes into ephemeral convivial and playful social ‘public’ environments. The event is based on a number of cultural venues/homes scattered around the old and newer city, which allows for an informal urban exploration and an autonomous rambling and getting lost along streets. This strategy not only disrupts the cleavages between public and private space permitting for various transgressions, but it also disorders normative urban experiences and unsettles the dominant role of the city council as the culture patron of the large majority of events. Guimarães, an UNESCO World Heritage City was the European Capital of Culture in 2012, with a public investment of roughly 73 million euro. By interviewing a sample of people who have hosted these transitory art performances and exhibitions, sometimes doubling as artists, the events’ organizers and by experience both editions of the event, this paper illustrates how urban citizens’ engagement and motivations in a low budget cultural event can strengthen community ties. Furthermore, it also questions the advantages of large scale high budget events, and how this event may be seen as unconscious counter movement against a commodification of cultural events and everyday urban experience at large, engaging with the concepts of staging and authenticity.

How does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?

To date few studies have been undertaken in Portugal dealing with the attitudes, motivations, and profile of tourists who visit World Heritage Sites. Also, few studies have dealt with destination image (e.g., Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2010; Lopes, 2011). As far as it is known, none have approached the issue of gender differences in the choice of a Portuguese heritage destination. Since cultural tourism destinations need to differentiate themselves from each other, appropriate market segmentation must be based on a deep understanding of the customers’ motivations and preferences. Keeping in mind results from empirical literature (e.g., Silberberg, 1995; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Richards, 2004; Pérez, 2009; Sheng, Shen, & Chen, 2008), gender seems to be a possible approach to market segmentation, whether for Guimarães or for other cultural tourism destinations around the world. Located in the north-western region of Portugal, Guimarães is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical centre as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study analyses the possible relation between gender and attitudes and motivations towards a World Heritage Site, such as Guimarães. Additionally, the empirical approach used in the study tries to capture differences in the perceived attributes of the city. Commonalities and distinctions within and between groups of tourists, by focusing on the specific characteristic of gender, were analysed. The study addressed two main questions: first, whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination; and, second, whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences.