The Sado valley surroundings, upstream of Alcácer do Sal, display a relatively high density of Late Mesolithic sites, dated between ca.8400-7000 cal BP (e.g. Arias et al., 2015, Peyroteo-Stjerna, 2016; Figure 1). Those sites are described in the archaeological literature as shell middens by the abundance of remains of estuarine invertebrates such as Scrobicularia plana and Cerastoderma edule (e.g. Arnaud, 2000; Carvalho, 2009; Diniz and Arias, 2012; Arias et al., 2017), despite its location more than 25km upstream of the current outer estuary. Besides shells and shell fragments, fish remains from coastal waters species such as Argyrosomus regius, Galeorhinus galeus, Dicentrarchus labrax and Sparus aurata were also found in some of these middens (Gabriel et al. 2012).

Conventional treatment processes for the removal of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins are thoroughly described in this chapter, including chemical treatment (heavy metals, herbicides, and photosensitizers), coagulation/flocculation combined with air flotation, and various adsorption processes.

Between ca.8400-7000 cal BP Late Mesolithic communities occupied the Sado valley embankments, upstream Alcácer do Sal, Portugal. The consumption of marine resources is attested by the shell waste abandoned in several sites (known as shell middens) and later confirmed by isotopic analyses on bone collagen from individuals buried in these locations. During the Mesolithic sea level was rising in response to global warming, allowing the flooding of the pre-incised Sado valley by marine water. Consequently, a question arose: did these communities colonize the margins of an estuarine environment where marine resources were available? A geophysical survey using the Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) method was performed to characterize the subsurface configuration of the Sado valley and its tributaries, close to the area where shell-middens are located. Additionally, cores were collected in the proximity of the ERT profiles and sediments analysed for multi-proxies contributing to reconstruct the Mesolithic environmental conditions and landscapes. ERT models interpretation allowed recognising a deeply incised valley (~40m) in the Sado channel and less deep valleys in the tributaries. Sediment analysis suggested the presence of a brackish environment since, at least, 8400 cal BP pointing to influence of marine water near the area occupied by the Mesolithic groups.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) stands out as a vector of innovation encouraging a revolution in modern Civil Engineering. This methodology congregates process, politics, and technology enabling a collaborative construction in virtual space. BIM implementation in buildings and infrastructures has been advantageous when compared to traditional process, allowing error and rework reductions as well as improving costs and time previsions. One of BIM

The real-estate valuation is still complex when it comes to the quantification of the areas and all the factors and coefficients involved in the tax asset value calculation. Automatic methods developed for this purpose have been using various possible approaches and tend to be quite complex for the calculation speed required in most cases. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has as its main advantage the possibility of a precise representation of the geometry of building elements, with integration of information and data in several dimensions. In this sense, this work intends to show the interests that exist in the creation and use of the BIM three-dimensional digital model, providing evidence of the value created for owners, designers, and investors through its use, creating better quality projects and more efficient construction processes, with economy of time and money. The present research work aims to develop the use of an automatic method for the real-estate value calculation, using BIM methodologies. Through BIM, the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operation (AECO) sector can take major evolutions in process optimization, following other major industries. These concepts allow for great speed and efficiency in post-project phases with many advantages compared to current methods. In the scope of the work, an automatic method is developed to calculate the real-estate value in two case studies. The application of the automatic method gains even more importance due to the possibility of its implementation in any developed three-dimensional model. Finally, the results obtained are analyzed and the main conclusions stated.

Este artigo apresenta uma etapa de uma pesquisa mais abrangente que está em andamento na Universidade do Porto, no âmbito do grupo de pesquisa Construct-Geo, que visa avaliar os aspectos geomecânicos de materiais alternativos para uso como camada de lastro em vias férreas do tipo heavy haul. São apresentados resultados de ensaios triaxiais monotônicos e cíclicos conduzidos em corpos de prova de 150 mm de diâmetro por 300 mm de altura, em escala reduzida numa proporção de 1:2,5 em relação à granulometriade lastro padrão AREMA N. 24. Analisou-se um agregado de escória de aciaria, quimicamente e ambientalmente, inerte comparativamente a um agregado de granito, relativamente à resistência e à deformabilidade. Os ensaios cíclicos foram conduzidos em dois escalões de carga de 500.000 ciclos, sendo cada escalão compatível com o carregamento imposto por vias do tipo heavy haul com, respectivamente,32,5 toneladas/eixo e 40 toneladas/eixo. Os resultados mostraram que o lastro de escória de aciaria apresentou parâmetros de resistência superiores comparativamente ao lastro de granito e um melhor comportamento quanto à deformabilidade, expresso por maiores valores de módulo de resiliência, menoresíndices de quebra e degradação de partículas e uma maior tendência de estabilização das deformações plásticas, fenômeno conhecido como shakedown e que também foi investigado.

Discrete element models have become a major tool for masonry analysis, allowing a suitable representation of its discontinuous nature and marked nonlinear behaviour. The chapter reviews the fundamental assumptions of the main DEM formulations available. It focuses more specifically on the widely used UDEC and 3DEC codes, explaining their relation with the other approaches, and the most relevant issues arising in their application to masonry. Applications to the main types of structures are reviewed, considering both static and dynamic analyses. Recent research providing comparisons of the numerical models with experimental and field data is particularly covered. The discussion of the different examples is aimed at clarifying the key capabilities of DEM and demonstrating the most effective ways of using it in a variety of masonry analysis situations.

The chapter considers the link between urban transformations in the Mouraria neighbourhood in Lisbon and the digital environment.The guiding thread of reflection is based on the tension between the production of sociocultural symbolic local references, and their (dis)appropriation by a creative economy that, relying on digital as a resource, helps to reshape the sociocultural local world into marketing. It concludes that digital has, not only a tangible social dimension, but also a tangible dimension in the processes of urban transformation. As such, it is pertinent to create alternative ways in defence of the right to the city that economize the social and its imageries taking more advantage of the articulated combination between real-digital.

UBEST aims at improving the global understanding of present andfuture biogeochemical buffering capacity of estuaries through the developmentof Observatories, computational web-portals that integrate field observation andreal-time MPI (Message Passing Interface) numerical simulations. HPC (High-Performance Computing) is applied in Observatories to serve both on-the-flyfrontend user requests for multiple spatial analyses and to speed up backend