Integrated coastal geoengineering approach for maritime environments

This dissertation introduces several methodological approaches which integrate a proposed coastal management model in an interdisciplinary perspective. The research presented herein is displayed as a set of publications comprising different thematic outlooks. The thesis develops an integrated coastal geoengineering approach which is intrinsically linked to the studied maritime environments. From sandy coasts and marine works to rocky platforms and sea cliffs, this study includes field work between Caminha – Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal) and Galicia (NW Spain). The research also involves an analysis and geological-geotechnical characterisation of natural rock (armourstone) and artificial units (concrete blocks) applied to coastal structures. The main goal is to contribute to the characterisation and re-evaluation of georesources and to determine armourstone suitability and availability from its source (quarry). It was also important to diagnose the geomaterials in situ concerning their degradation/deterioration level on the basis of the current status of the coastal protection works in order to facilitate more efficient monitoring and maintenance, with economic benefits. In the rocky coast approach the coastal blocks were studied along the platform, but also the geoforms were studied from a coastal morphodynamics point of view. A shoreline evolution analysis was developed for sandy coasts through Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) extension. In addition, the spatial and statistical analysis applied to sea cliffs allowed the establishment of susceptibility zones to erosion and hazardous areas. All of these studies have different purposes and results however, there is a common denominator – GIS mapping. Hence, apart from the studied coastal environment, there is an integrated system which includes a sequence of procedures and methodologies that persisted during the research period. This is a step forward in the study of different coastal environments by using almost the same methodologies. This will allow the characterisation, monitoring and assessment of coastal protection works, rocky coasts, and shore platforms. With such data, it is possible to propose or recommend strategies for coastal and shoreline management based on several justifications in terms of social, economic, and environmental questions, or even provide a GIS-based planning support system reinforced by geocartographic decisions. Overall the development of the applied cartography embraces six stages which will allow the production of detailed maps of the maritime environment: (1) high-resolution aerial imagery surveys; (2) visual inspection and systematic monitoring; (3) applied field datasheet; (4) in situ evaluation; (5) scanline surveying; and (6) GIS mapping. This thesis covers fundamental matters that were developed over the course of scientific publication and as a consequence they represent the results obtained and discussed. The subjects directly related to the thesis architecture are: (i) cartography applied to coastal dynamics (including an art historical analysis as a tool to comprehend the coastal evolution and the littoral zone); (ii) georesources assessment (the role of cartography in georesources zoning, assessment and armourstone durability); (iii) coastal geoengineering applications and monitoring (Espinho pilot site in NW Portugal as an experimental field); (iv) rocky coast and shore platform studies and characterisation; (v) sandy and mixed environment approaches; (vi) coastal geosciences GIS mapping and photogrammetric surveying (coastal geoengineering); and (vii) shoreline change mapping and coastal management strategies (the CartGalicia Project as an example – NW Spain). Finally, all of these thematic areas were crucial to generate the conceptual models proposed and to shape the future of integrated coastal coastal geoengineering management.

Can virtual environments enhance the learning of historical chronology?

Historical time and chronological sequence are usually conveyed to pupils via the presentation of semantic information on printed worksheets, events being rote-memorised according to date. We explored the use of virtual environments in which successive historical events were depicted as “places” in time–space, encountered sequentially in a fly-through. Testing was via “Which came first, X or Y?” questions and picture-ordering. University undergraduates experiencing the history of an imaginary planet performed better after a VE than after viewing a “washing line” of sequential images, or captions alone, especially for items in intermediate list positions. However, secondary children 11–14 years remembered no more about successive events in feudal England when they were presented virtually compared with either paper picture or 2-D computer graphic conditions. Primary children 7–9 years learned more about historical sequence after studying a series of paper images, compared with either VE or computer graphic conditions, remembering more in early/intermediate list positions. Reasons for the discrepant results are discussed and future possible uses of VEs in the teaching of chronology assessed. Keywords: timeline, chronographics

Sustainability study of the application of geosynthetic clay liners in hostile and aggressive environments

This paper discusses the sustainable performance of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) which are popularly specified as “leachate retaining” or as “water proofing” membranes in the geo-environmental construction industry. Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are composite matting comprising of bentonite clay with two covering geosynthetics. These are innovative labour saving construction material, developed over the last three decades. The paper outlines the variety of Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCLs) can be classified essentially into two distinctly different forms viz; (a) air dry (< 8% m/c) with granular or powdered bentonite or (b) bentonite cake factory prehydrated to a moisture content (~40% m/c) beyond its shrinkage limit and vacuum extruded as a clay cake to enhance its sustainable performance. The dominant mineral in bentonite clay is the three-layered (2:1) clay mineral montmorillonite. High quality bentonites need to be used in the GCL manufacture. Sodium montmorillonite has the desired characteristic of high swelling capacity, high cation exchange capacity and the consequently very low hydraulic conductivity, providing the basis for the hydraulic sealing medium in GCLs. These encapsulate the active montmorillonite clay minerals which depend on the water and chemical balance between the sealing element and the surrounding geo environment. Quantitative mineralogical analyses and an assessment of the adsorbed cation regime, diffusion coefficients and clay leachate compatibility must necessarily be an integral part of the site appraisal to ensure acceptable long term sustainability and performance. Factors influencing the desired performance of bentonite in the GCLs placed in difficult construction and hostile chemical environments are discussed in this paper. Accordingly, the performance specifications for GCLs are identified and the appropriateness of enhancing the cation exchange capacity with polymer treatment and the need for factory prehydration of the untreated sodium bentonite is emphasised. The advantage of factory prehydrating the polymer treated bentonite to fluid content beyond its shrinkage limit and subsequently factory processing it to develop laminated clay is to develop a GCL that has enviable sealing characteristics with a greater resistance to geochemical attack and cracking. Since clay liners are buried in the ground as base liners, capping layer or as structural water proofing membrane, they can easily avoid strict quality and performance monitoring being “out of sight, out of mind!”. It is very necessary that barrier design for leachate containment must necessarily be in accordance with legislative requirement Assessment of long term hydraulic conductivities and clay-leachate compatibility assessment is deemed necessary. The derogatory factors affecting the sustainable performance of the bentonite in GCLs placed in difficult construction and hostile chemical environments are discussed. Sustainability concepts incorporated in waste management practice must aim to achieve 100% recycling and fully implement the handling of solid waste in developing countries with relatively lower labour costs.

Do challenge, task experience or computer familiarity influence the learning of historical chronology from virtual environments in 8–9 year old children?

Studies examined the potential use of Virtual Environments (VEs) in teaching historical chronology to 127 children of primary school age (8–9 years). The use of passive fly-through VEs had been found, in an earlier study, to be disadvantageous with this age group when tested for their subsequent ability to place displayed sequential events in correct chronological order. All VEs in the present studies included active challenge, previously shown to enhance learning in older participants. Primary school children in the UK (all frequent computer users) were tested using UK historical materials, but no significant effect was found between three conditions (Paper, PowerPoint and VE) with minimal pre-training. However, excellent (error free) learning occurred when children were allowed greater exploration prior to training in the VE. In Ukraine, with children having much less computer familiarity, training in a VE (depicting Ukrainian history) produced better learning compared to PowerPoint, but no better than in a Paper condition. The results confirmed the benefit of using challenge in a VE with primary age children, but only with adequate prior familiarisation with the medium. Familiarity may reduce working memory load and increase children’s spatial memory capacity for acquiring sequential temporal-spatial information from virtual displays. Keywords: timeline, chronographics

REVERIE: Natural Human Interaction in Virtual Immersive Environments

REVERIE (REal and Virtual Engagement in Realistic Immersive Environments [1]) targets novel research to address the demanding challenges involved with developing state-of-the-art technologies for online human interaction. The REVERIE framework enables users to meet, socialise and share experiences online by integrating cutting-edge technologies for 3D data acquisition and processing, networking, autonomy and real-time rendering. In this paper, we describe the innovative research that is showcased through the REVERIE integrated framework through richly defined use-cases which demonstrate the validity and potential for natural interaction in a virtual immersive and safe environment. Previews of the REVERIE demo and its key research components can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/REVERIEFP7.

Efficient content pushing in IEEE 802.11p vehicular environments

Vehicular networking is a new field that is expected to be widely adopted in the near future. One of the key applications inherent to this novel communications paradigm is content delivery to on-board users. In this paper we focus specifically on broadcast-based content delivery. We propose a content delivery scheme that is optimized for performance in order to improve the maximum amount of data than can be delivered, while also reducing delivery time to a minimum. With this goal our study combines both analytical and simulation results to determine the optimal packet size for content delivery so as to achieve the maximum throughput possible at different distances, and considering both static and mobile receivers. Experimental results show that our optimizations provide efficient delivery of multimedia contents for distances up to 200 meters when relying on IEEE 802.lip based broadcasting. Copyright © 2010 ACM.

Comparing Zostera and Spartina environments in relation to carbon burial: a sedimentary and geochemical approach from Ria Formosa

Dissertação de mestrado, Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Bacteriobenthos diversity in the surface of different sediment environments in Ria Farmosa

Dissertação de Mestrado, Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Diatom-based characterization of iberian coastal environments at different time scales

Tese de doutoramento, Geologia (Geologia Económica e do Ambiente), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Designing personalized video-based crossmedia informal learning environments beyond iTV

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Engenharia Informática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Promoting self-regulated learning in technology enhanced learning environments : keeping a digital track of the learning process

Tese de doutoramento (co-tutela), Psicologia (Psicologia da Educação), Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra, Technial University of Darmstadt, 2014

Trophic Level Asynchrony in Rates of Phenological Change For Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Environments

Recent changes in the seasonal timing (phenology) of familiar biological events have been one of the most conspicuous signs of climate change. However, the lack of a standardised approach to analysing change has hampered assessment of consistency in such changes among different taxa and trophic levels and across freshwater, terrestrial and marine environments. We present a standardised assessment of 25 532 rates of phenological change for 726 UK terrestrial, freshwater and marine taxa. The majority of spring and summer events have advanced, and more rapidly than previously documented. Such consistency is indicative of shared large-scale drivers. Furthermore, average rates of change have accelerated in a way that is consistent with observed warming trends. Less coherent patterns in some groups of organisms point to the agency of more local scale processes and multiple drivers. For the first time we show a broad scale signal of differential phenological change among trophic levels; across environments advances in timing were slowest for secondary consumers, thus heightening the potential risk of temporal mismatch in key trophic interactions. If current patterns and rates of phenological change are indicative of future trends, future climate warming may exacerbate trophic mismatching, further disrupting the functioning, persistence and resilience of many ecosystems and having a major impact on ecosystem services

Performance of an adaptive homodyne receiver in the presence of multipath, Rayleigh-fading and time-varying quadrature errors

In this paper, we carry out a detailed performance analysis of the blind source separation based I/Q corrector operating at the baseband. Performance of the digital I/Q corrector is evaluated not only under time-varying phase and gain errors but also in the presence of multipath and Rayleigh fading channels. Performance under low-SNR and different modulation formats and constellation sizes is also evaluated. What is more, BER improvement after correction is illustrated. The results indicate that the adaptive algorithm offers adequate performance for most communication applications hence, reducing the matching requirements of the analog front-end enabling higher levels of integration.

The Development of Environmental Assessment Tools to Support the Creation of Dementia Friendly Care Environments: Innovative Practice

The need for more dementia friendly design in hospitals and other care settings is now widely acknowledged. Working with 26 NHS Trusts in England as part of a Department of Health commissioned programme, The King’s Fund developed a set of overarching design principles and an environmental assessment tool for hospital wards in 2012. Following requests from other sectors, additional tools were developed for hospitals, care homes, health centres and housing with care. The tools have proven to be effective in both disseminating the principles of dementia friendly design and in enabling the case to be made for improvements that have a positive effect on patient outcomes and staff morale. This paper reports on the development,use and review of the environmental assessment tools, including further work that is now being taken forward by The Association for Dementia Studies, University of Worcester.