A Gestão Documental na Autoridade Portuária de Barcelona

Este relatório de estágio representa o trabalho desenvolvido na Autoritat Portuària de Barcelona (APB), mais precisamente no Centro de Documentação da Autoridade Portuária de Barcelona, num período de 150 horas, onde tive a oportunidade de passar pelos diferentes serviços de documentação e realizar as tarefas inerentes a uma Instituição com idêntica tipologia àquela onde presto idêntica atividade em Portugal. Descreve-se a empresa e o trabalho desenvolvido no Centro de Documentação (CENDOC), considerando todas as funções desenvolvidas ao nível da gestão documental, na biblioteca, no arquivo intermédio, histórico e no arquivo fotográfico. O serviço de Arquivo agiliza a gestão de um fundo documental com mais de 3.900 metros lineares de documentos textuais, 500 metros lineares de documentação gráfica e cartográfica e 75.000 fotografias. Também gere o Património Cultural Móvel da APB, tanto o fundo documental do Arquivo Histórico (textual e imagens), como as coleções de objetos artísticos de interesse histórico e cultural (pinturas, esculturas, artes decorativas, cartas náuticas, modelos de navios). Toda a documentação do Arquivo Intermédio foi devidamente tratada, higienizada e organizada num novo espaço de arquivo, com melhores condições de acondicionamento. Aproveitando este trabalho, foi desenvolvido um novo Plano de Classificação em maio de 2012, no mesmo período que desenvolvi o estágio, a fim de melhorar o serviço de Arquivo. O serviço da Biblioteca tem ao alcance dos seus utilizadores um fundo de 1276 publicações periódicas e mais de 2.300 monografias, catalogadas no programa informático CDS/ISIS. A sua classificação é feita com base na Classificação Decimal Universal (CDU), e a partir de um tesauro especifico elaborado pelos técnicos do CENDOC. Enquanto Técnica Superior no Centro de Documentação e Informação na Administração do Porto de Lisboa (APL), o desenvolvimento deste estágio trouxe um importante contributo para o serviço que desempenho no Centro de Documentação e Informação na Administração do Porto de Lisboa. Este Estágio possibilitou, sem dúvida, um melhor conhecimento teórico e prático no âmbito das tarefas inerentes ao mesmo, e a capacitação para o desenvolvimento de projetos relacionados com as funções que desempenho, no Centro de Documentação e Informação da Administração do Porto de Lisboa.

Regulación de las relaciones internacionales en la Constitución Política del Estado de Bolivia

La presente tesis, presenta los efectos jurídicos de la relación constitución- relaciones internacionales, revisando nociones como soberanía y tratado internacional, también se delinean las principales características del control constitucional a priori, como uno de los máximos referentes para que un estado soberano pueda ser parte de un proceso de integración regional, sin dejar de lado un precepto básico de todo ordenamiento jurídico y de toda relación interestatal: la supremacía constitucional. Producto central de este trabajo de investigación es delimitar el tratamiento normativo que da la Constitución boliviana a las relaciones internacionales, el comercio internacional y la integración, advirtiendo después de un minucioso estudio, que existen carencias en su regulación ya que las únicas competencias en materia internacional son solo de carácter funcional, no existiendo alguna definición en la Carta Magna de Bolivia sobre relaciones externas del Estado. Por otro lado, si bien se puede manifestar que en Bolivia existe un control a priori que se desprende de la Constitución boliviana en el artículo 120 Nº 8, el mismo no garantiza el que se preserve la noción de supremacía constitucional, ya que no están claros en la Ley del Tribunal Constitucional N° 1836, menos en la Constitución, cuáles serían los efectos jurídicos de la aprobación de tratados o convenios multilaterales virtualmente inconstitucionales a pesar de la reserva del Tribunal Constitucional.

El control constitucional y los tratados internacionales en el Ecuador

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo determinar ¿si la institución del control constitucional previo de tratados internacionales ha funcionado como mecanismo idóneo que permita garantizar la supremacía constitucional? Cuestión que a lo largo de este trabajo pretende ser resuelta mediante la confrontación de las dos modalidades de control constitucional que tradicionalmente se han planteado para los tratados internacionales: el control a priori o control a posteriori. Se parte del análisis de la figura del control constitucional en general para luego aterrizar en la institución del control constitucional previo como mecanismo para asegurar la supremacía de la Constitución, como instrumento político fundamental de un Estado. Igualmente se recurre al estudio de la normativa constitucional que se ha expedido en el Ecuador a partir del año 1945 hasta el 2008, haciendo una breve referencia a las constituciones promulgadas antes de ese período, en donde se hace un análisis crítico de la conveniencia de los sistemas de control constitucional de tratados internacionales acogidos en cada una de las cartas políticas. Posteriormente se hace una investigación de derecho comparado de las constituciones vigentes en Bolivia y Perú a partir del cual se identifican las similitudes y divergencias que presentan estos sistemas en lo que al control constitucional de tratados internacionales se refiere. Finalmente se pretende determinar la conveniencia del control a priori de los tratados internacionales como un mecanismo que permite por un lado la coherencia del ordenamiento jurídico interno con la Constitución, y por otro el respeto por el Derecho internacional y los compromisos internacionales que el Estado ha adquirido o lo hará en el futuro como ente soberano.

Ecuador

En Ecuador la población total es de 15.430.577 habitantes y los pueblos indígenas representan alrededor de 1 millón 100 mil habitantes. El 78,5% habita en el área rural. La Constitución de la República vigente reconoce al país como un “… Estado constitucional de derechos y justicia social, democrático, soberano, independiente, unitario, intercultural, plurinacional y laico”. De igual manera, Ecuador se constituyó en el primer país en el mundo en reconocer derechos a la naturaleza en su Carta Magna e incorporar en su texto central principios ancestrales como el “Sumak Kawsay” (Vida límpida y en armonía).

Ecuador

En Ecuador, la población total es de 15.682.792 habitantes, donde existen 14 nacionalidades que suman cerca de 1 millón 100 mil habitantes y están aglutinadas en un conjunto de organizaciones locales, regionales y nacionales. El 60,3 % de los Kichwa andinos vive en 6 provincias de la Sierra Centro-Norte; el 24,1% habita en la Amazonía y comprende 10 nacionalidades; el 7,3% de los Kichwa andinos habita la Sierra Sur; y el 8,3% restante habita en la región Costa y las Islas Galápagos. El 78,5% habita aún en el sector rural y el 21,5% en el sector urbano. La Constitución de la República vigente reconoce al país como un “… Estado constitucional de derechos y justicia social, democrático, soberano, independiente, unitario, intercultural, plurinacional y laico”. Durante el último quinquenio, el país ha vivido un conjunto de reformas políticas e institucionales aunque, al mismo tiempo, la vigencia y garantía de los derechos colectivos reconocidos en la Carta Magna se han convertido en un desafío para el proceso y en un punto de permanente desencuentro entre el gobierno, encabezado por el economista Rafael Correa, y el conjunto de organizaciones sociales indígenas. La apertura a capitales ligados a las industrias extractivas, de petróleo, cobre u oro -sean de origen chino, bielorruso o de otros países latinoamericanos como Brasil, Chile o Argentina-, ha marcado buena parte del accionar económico del gobierno, con el consiguiente riesgo e impactos a la integridad territorial y cultural de varios pueblos indígenas, y a la incertidumbre generada en torno a la vigencia real de los amplios derechos colectivos consagrados en la Constitución.

Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe): the tropical North Atlantic experiments

The NERC UK SOLAS-funded Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe) programme comprised three field experiments. This manuscript presents an overview of the measurements made within the two simultaneous remote experiments conducted in the tropical North Atlantic in May and June 2007. Measurements were made from two mobile and one ground-based platforms. The heavily instrumented cruise D319 on the RRS Discovery from Lisbon, Portugal to São Vicente, Cape Verde and back to Falmouth, UK was used to characterise the spatial distribution of boundary layer components likely to play a role in reactive halogen chemistry. Measurements onboard the ARSF Dornier aircraft were used to allow the observations to be interpreted in the context of their vertical distribution and to confirm the interpretation of atmospheric structure in the vicinity of the Cape Verde islands. Long-term ground-based measurements at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) on São Vicente were supplemented by long-term measurements of reactive halogen species and characterisation of additional trace gas and aerosol species during the intensive experimental period. This paper presents a summary of the measurements made within the RHaMBLe remote experiments and discusses them in their meteorological and chemical context as determined from these three platforms and from additional meteorological analyses. Air always arrived at the CVAO from the North East with a range of air mass origins (European, Atlantic and North American continental). Trace gases were present at stable and fairly low concentrations with the exception of a slight increase in some anthropogenic components in air of North American origin, though NOx mixing ratios during this period remained below 20 pptv. Consistency with these air mass classifications is observed in the time series of soluble gas and aerosol composition measurements, with additional identification of periods of slightly elevated dust concentrations consistent with the trajectories passing over the African continent. The CVAO is shown to be broadly representative of the wider North Atlantic marine boundary layer; measurements of NO, O3 and black carbon from the ship are consistent with a clean Northern Hemisphere marine background. Aerosol composition measurements do not indicate elevated organic material associated with clean marine air. Closer to the African coast, black carbon and NO levels start to increase, indicating greater anthropogenic influence. Lower ozone in this region is possibly associated with the increased levels of measured halocarbons, associated with the nutrient rich waters of the Mauritanian upwelling. Bromide and chloride deficits in coarse mode aerosol at both the CVAO and on D319 and the continuous abundance of inorganic gaseous halogen species at CVAO indicate significant reactive cycling of halogens. Aircraft measurements of O3 and CO show that surface measurements are representative of the entire boundary layer in the vicinity both in diurnal variability and absolute levels. Above the inversion layer similar diurnal behaviour in O3 and CO is observed at lower mixing ratios in the air that had originated from south of Cape Verde, possibly from within the ITCZ. ECMWF calculations on two days indicate very different boundary layer depths and aircraft flights over the ship replicate this, giving confidence in the calculated boundary layer depth.

Danish razors and Swedish rocks: Cosmology and the Bronze Age landscape

A recent study has suggested that the decorated Bronze Age metalwork of South Scandinavia depicted the path of the sun through the sky during the day and through the sea at night. At different stages in its journey it was accompanied by a horse or a ship. Similar images are found in prehistoric rock art, and this paper argues that, whilst there are important differences between the images in these two media, they also signal some of the same ideas.

Radiative forcing due to changes in ozone and methane caused by the transport sector

The year 2000 radiative forcing (RF) due to changes in O3 and CH4 (and the CH4-induced stratospheric water vapour) as a result of emissions of short-lived gases (oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide and non-methane hydrocarbons) from three transport sectors (ROAD, maritime SHIPping and AIRcraft) are calculated using results from five global atmospheric chemistry models. Using results from these models plus other published data, we quantify the uncertainties. The RF due to short-term O3 changes (i.e. as an immediate response to the emissions without allowing for the long-term CH4 changes) is positive and highest for ROAD transport (31mWm-2) compared to SHIP (24 mWm-2) and AIR (17 mWm-2) sectors in four of the models. All five models calculate negative RF from the CH4 perturbations, with a larger impact from the SHIP sector than for ROAD and AIR. The net RF of O3 and CH4 combined (i.e. including the impact of CH4 on ozone and stratospheric water vapour) is positive for ROAD (+16(±13)(one standard deviation) mWm-2) and AIR (+6(±5) mWm-2) traffic sectors and is negative for SHIP (-18(±10) mWm-2) sector in all five models. Global Warming Potentials (GWP) and Global Temperature change Potentials (GTP) are presented for AIR NOx emissions; there is a wide spread in the results from the 5 chemistry models, and it is shown that differences in the methane response relative to the O3 response drive much of the spread.

Numerical modeling of the propagation environment in the atmospheric boundary layer over the Persian Gulf

Strong vertical gradients at the top of the atmospheric boundary layer affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves and can produce radar ducts. A three-dimensional, time-dependent, nonhydrostatic numerical model was used to simulate the propagation environment in the atmosphere over the Persian Gulf when aircraft observations of ducting had been made. A division of the observations into high- and low-wind cases was used as a framework for the simulations. Three sets of simulations were conducted with initial conditions of varying degrees of idealization and were compared with the observations taken in the Ship Antisubmarine Warfare Readiness/Effectiveness Measuring (SHAREM-115) program. The best results occurred with the initialization based on a sounding taken over the coast modified by the inclusion of data on low-level atmospheric conditions over the Gulf waters. The development of moist, cool, stable marine internal boundary layers (MIBL) in air flowing from land over the waters of the Gulf was simulated. The MIBLs were capped by temperature inversions and associated lapses of humidity and refractivity. The low-wind MIBL was shallower and the gradients at its top were sharper than in the high-wind case, in agreement with the observations. Because it is also forced by land–sea contrasts, a sea-breeze circulation frequently occurs in association with the MIBL. The size, location, and internal structure of the sea-breeze circulation were realistically simulated. The gradients of temperature and humidity that bound the MIBL cause perturbations in the refractivity distribution that, in turn, lead to trapping layers and ducts. The existence, location, and surface character of the ducts were well captured. Horizontal variations in duct characteristics due to the sea-breeze circulation were also evident. The simulations successfully distinguished between high- and low-wind occasions, a notable feature of the SHAREM-115 observations. The modeled magnitudes of duct depth and strength, although leaving scope for improvement, were most encouraging.

The impact of traffic emissions on atmospheric ozone and OH: results from QUANTIFY

To estimate the impact of emissions by road, aircraft and ship traffic on ozone and OH in the present-day atmosphere six different atmospheric chemistry models have been used. Based on newly developed global emission inventories for road, ship and aircraft emission data sets each model performed sensitivity simulations reducing the emissions of each transport sector by 5%. The model results indicate that on global annual average lower tropospheric ozone responds most sensitive to ship emissions (50.6%±10.9% of the total traffic induced perturbation), followed by road (36.7%±9.3%) and aircraft exhausts (12.7%±2.9%), respectively. In the northern upper troposphere between 200–300 hPa at 30–60° N the maximum impact from road and ship are 93% and 73% of the maximum effect of aircraft, respectively. The latter is 0.185 ppbv for ozone (for the 5% case) or 3.69 ppbv when scaling to 100%. On the global average the impact of road even dominates in the UTLS-region. The sensitivity of ozone formation per NOx molecule emitted is highest for aircraft exhausts. The local maximum effect of the summed traffic emissions on the ozone column predicted by the models is 0.2 DU and occurs over the northern subtropical Atlantic extending to central Europe. Below 800 hPa both ozone and OH respond most sensitively to ship emissions in the marine lower troposphere over the Atlantic. Based on the 5% perturbation the effect on ozone can exceed 0.6% close to the marine surface (global zonal mean) which is 80% of the total traffic induced ozone perturbation. In the southern hemisphere ship emissions contribute relatively strongly to the total ozone perturbation by 60%–80% throughout the year. Methane lifetime changes against OH are affected strongest by ship emissions up to 0.21 (± 0.05)%, followed by road (0.08 (±0.01)%) and air traffic (0.05 (± 0.02)%). Based on the full scale ozone and methane perturbations positive radiative forcings were calculated for road emissions (7.3±6.2 mWm−2) and for aviation (2.9±2.3 mWm−2). Ship induced methane lifetime changes dominate over the ozone forcing and therefore lead to a net negative forcing (−25.5±13.2 mWm−2).

Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe): the tropical North Atlantic experiments

The NERC UK SOLAS-funded Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe) programme comprised three field experiments. This manuscript presents an overview of the measurements made within the two simultaneous remote experiments conducted in the tropical North Atlantic in May and June 2007. Measurements were made from two mobile and one ground-based platforms. The heavily instrumented cruise D319 on the RRS Discovery from Lisbon, Portugal to São Vicente, Cape Verde and back to Falmouth, UK was used to characterise the spatial distribution of boundary layer components likely to play a role in reactive halogen chemistry. Measurements onboard the ARSF Dornier aircraft were used to allow the observations to be interpreted in the context of their vertical distribution and to confirm the interpretation of atmospheric structure in the vicinity of the Cape Verde islands. Long-term ground-based measurements at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) on São Vicente were supplemented by long-term measurements of reactive halogen species and characterisation of additional trace gas and aerosol species during the intensive experimental period. This paper presents a summary of the measurements made within the RHaMBLe remote experiments and discusses them in their meteorological and chemical context as determined from these three platforms and from additional meteorological analyses. Air always arrived at the CVAO from the North East with a range of air mass origins (European, Atlantic and North American continental). Trace gases were present at stable and fairly low concentrations with the exception of a slight increase in some anthropogenic components in air of North American origin, though NOx mixing ratios during this period remained below 20 pptv (note the non-IUPAC adoption in this manuscript of pptv and ppbv, equivalent to pmol mol−1 and nmol mol−1 to reflect common practice). Consistency with these air mass classifications is observed in the time series of soluble gas and aerosol composition measurements, with additional identification of periods of slightly elevated dust concentrations consistent with the trajectories passing over the African continent. The CVAO is shown to be broadly representative of the wider North Atlantic marine boundary layer; measurements of NO, O3 and black carbon from the ship are consistent with a clean Northern Hemisphere marine background. Aerosol composition measurements do not indicate elevated organic material associated with clean marine air. Closer to the African coast, black carbon and NO levels start to increase, indicating greater anthropogenic influence. Lower ozone in this region is possibly associated with the increased levels of measured halocarbons, associated with the nutrient rich waters of the Mauritanian upwelling. Bromide and chloride deficits in coarse mode aerosol at both the CVAO and on D319 and the continuous abundance of inorganic gaseous halogen species at CVAO indicate significant reactive cycling of halogens. Aircraft measurements of O3 and CO show that surface measurements are representative of the entire boundary layer in the vicinity both in diurnal variability and absolute levels. Above the inversion layer similar diurnal behaviour in O3 and CO is observed at lower mixing ratios in the air that had originated from south of Cape Verde, possibly from within the ITCZ. ECMWF calculations on two days indicate very different boundary layer depths and aircraft flights over the ship replicate this, giving confidence in the calculated boundary layer depth.

Data assimilation for state and parameter estimation: application to morphodynamic modelling

Data assimilation is predominantly used for state estimation; combining observational data with model predictions to produce an updated model state that most accurately approximates the true system state whilst keeping the model parameters fixed. This updated model state is then used to initiate the next model forecast. Even with perfect initial data, inaccurate model parameters will lead to the growth of prediction errors. To generate reliable forecasts we need good estimates of both the current system state and the model parameters. This paper presents research into data assimilation methods for morphodynamic model state and parameter estimation. First, we focus on state estimation and describe implementation of a three dimensional variational(3D-Var) data assimilation scheme in a simple 2D morphodynamic model of Morecambe Bay, UK. The assimilation of observations of bathymetry derived from SAR satellite imagery and a ship-borne survey is shown to significantly improve the predictive capability of the model over a 2 year run. Here, the model parameters are set by manual calibration; this is laborious and is found to produce different parameter values depending on the type and coverage of the validation dataset. The second part of this paper considers the problem of model parameter estimation in more detail. We explain how, by employing the technique of state augmentation, it is possible to use data assimilation to estimate uncertain model parameters concurrently with the model state. This approach removes inefficiencies associated with manual calibration and enables more effective use of observational data. We outline the development of a novel hybrid sequential 3D-Var data assimilation algorithm for joint state-parameter estimation and demonstrate its efficacy using an idealised 1D sediment transport model. The results of this study are extremely positive and suggest that there is great potential for the use of data assimilation-based state-parameter estimation in coastal morphodynamic modelling.

Integration of a 3D Variational data assimilation scheme with a coastal area morphodynamic model of Morecambe Bay

This paper describes the implementation of a 3D variational (3D-Var) data assimilation scheme for a morphodynamic model applied to Morecambe Bay, UK. A simple decoupled hydrodynamic and sediment transport model is combined with a data assimilation scheme to investigate the ability of such methods to improve the accuracy of the predicted bathymetry. The inverse forecast error covariance matrix is modelled using a Laplacian approximation which is calibrated for the length scale parameter required. Calibration is also performed for the Soulsby-van Rijn sediment transport equations. The data used for assimilation purposes comprises waterlines derived from SAR imagery covering the entire period of the model run, and swath bathymetry data collected by a ship-borne survey for one date towards the end of the model run. A LiDAR survey of the entire bay carried out in November 2005 is used for validation purposes. The comparison of the predictive ability of the model alone with the model-forecast-assimilation system demonstrates that using data assimilation significantly improves the forecast skill. An investigation of the assimilation of the swath bathymetry as well as the waterlines demonstrates that the overall improvement is initially large, but decreases over time as the bathymetry evolves away from that observed by the survey. The result of combining the calibration runs into a pseudo-ensemble provides a higher skill score than for a single optimized model run. A brief comparison of the Optimal Interpolation assimilation method with the 3D-Var method shows that the two schemes give similar results.

Impact of duration thresholds on Atlantic tropical cyclone counts*

Records of Atlantic basin tropical cyclones (TCs) since the late nineteenth century indicate a very large upward trend in storm frequency. This increase in documented TCs has been previously interpreted as resulting from anthropogenic climate change. However, improvements in observing and recording practices provide an alternative interpretation for these changes: recent studies suggest that the number of potentially missed TCs is sufficient to explain a large part of the recorded increase in TC counts. This study explores the influence of another factor—TC duration—on observed changes in TC frequency, using a widely used Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT). It is found that the occurrence of short-lived storms (duration of 2 days or less) in the database has increased dramatically, from less than one per year in the late nineteenth–early twentieth century to about five per year since about 2000, while medium- to long-lived storms have increased little, if at all. Thus, the previously documented increase in total TC frequency since the late nineteenth century in the database is primarily due to an increase in very short-lived TCs. The authors also undertake a sampling study based upon the distribution of ship observations, which provides quantitative estimates of the frequency of missed TCs, focusing just on the moderate to long-lived systems with durations exceeding 2 days in the raw HURDAT. Upon adding the estimated numbers of missed TCs, the time series of moderate to long-lived Atlantic TCs show substantial multidecadal variability, but neither time series exhibits a significant trend since the late nineteenth century, with a nominal decrease in the adjusted time series. Thus, to understand the source of the century-scale increase in Atlantic TC counts in HURDAT, one must explain the relatively monotonic increase in very short-duration storms since the late nineteenth century. While it is possible that the recorded increase in short-duration TCs represents a real climate signal, the authors consider that it is more plausible that the increase arises primarily from improvements in the quantity and quality of observations, along with enhanced interpretation techniques. These have allowed National Hurricane Center forecasters to better monitor and detect initial TC formation, and thus incorporate increasing numbers of very short-lived systems into the TC database.