Artigos de Revista

Pilot runs of powdered activated carbon/coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation (PAC/CFS) were conducted to investigate the removal of 19 pharmaceutical compounds and 9 pesticides as a function of their properties. PAC addition impact on the clarification effectiveness of low-turbidity surface waters was also explored.

Accurate pavement performance prediction models are essential to ensure optimal allocation of resources in maintenance management. These models are developed using inventory and monitoring data regarding pavement structure, climate, traffic, and condition. However, numerous road agencies have limited pavement data. Due to the inexistence of historical data, data collection frequency, and/or quality issues, the amount of data available for the development of performance models is reduced. As a result, the resource allocation process is significantly undermined. This paper proposes a transfer learning approach to develop pavement performance prediction models in limited data contexts. The proposed transfer learning approach is based on a boosting algorithm. In particular, a modified version of the popular TrAdaBoost learning algorithm was used.To test the proposed transfer learning approach, a case study was developed using data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database and from the Portuguese road administration database. The results of this work show that it is possible to develop accurate performance prediction models in limited data contexts when a transfer learning approach is applied. All the models resulting from this approach outperformed baseline models, especially in what regards long-term forecasts. The results also showed that the transfer learning models perform consistently over different time frames, with minor performance losses from one-step to multi-step forecasts. The findings of this study should be of interest to road agencies facing limited data contexts and aiming to develop accurate prediction models that can improve their pavement management practice.

In recent years, interest has increased in new renewable energy solutions for climate change mitigation and increasing the efficiency and sustainability of water systems. Hydropower still has the biggest share due to its compatibility, reliability and flexibility. This study presents one such technology recently examined at Instituto Superior Técnico based on a transient-flow induced compressed air energy storage (TI-CAES) system, which takes advantage of a compressed air vessel (CAV). The CAV can produce extra required pressure head, by compressing air, to be used for either hydropower generation using a water turbine in a gravity system or to be exploited in a pumping system. The results show a controlled behaviour of the system in storing the pressure surge as compressed air inside a vessel. Considerable power values are achieved as well, while the input work is practically neglected. Higher power values are attained for bigger air volumes. The TI-CAES offers an efficient and flexible solution that can be exploited in exiting water systems without putting the system at risk. The induced transients in the compressed air allow a constant outflow discharge characteristic, making the energy storage available in the CAV to be used as a pump storage hydropower solution.

The presence of vegetation on the floodplains of compound channels affects thestructure of mean flow, increases flow resistance and turbulence intensity, andimpacts sediment transport. In prismatic compound channels, the shear stress at theinterface between the flows in the main channel and lateral floodplains has a stronginfluence in the cross sectional velocity distribution and thus conveyance of thechannel. Due to mass transfer between subsections, these effects are enhanced innon-prismatic channels. In the present study, the three-dimensional turbulent flowstructure in a vegetated non-prismatic convergent compound channel is experimentallyinvestigated. The main purpose is to clarify the explicit influence of the combinationof two factors (floodplain vegetation and convergent floodplains) on mean flowand large-scale turbulence. The experiments were conducted for relative depths(i.e., the ratio between floodplain and main channel flow depths) equal to 0.21 and0.31 and floodplain convergence angles equal to 7.25 and 11.3 . The resultsobtained in straight compound channel with vegetated floodplains were used as areference. The analysis of the Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter measurements showsthat due to convergent floodplains, a transverse current is directed from the floodplainsto the main channel from both sides, generating two helical secondary currents.Investigations of the vegetation influence on Reynolds stresses shows thatthere is a significant vertical and lateral spreading of the shear region towards themain channel side slope. As the convergence angle increases, the floodplain flow proportiondecreases. In this case, the presence of vegetation in the floodplain leads to asuppression of the momentum exchange between main channel and floodplainscausing the discharge distribution between sub-sections to be significantly differentfrom what would be without floodplain vegetation.

No artigo desenvolve-se uma reflexão sobre aspectos que caracterizam o que podemos considerar como "bons espaços e ambientes domésticos", abordando-se as matérias espaço-funcionais, também

No presente artigo desenvolve-se uma reflexão sobre os aspectos que caracterizam o que podemos considerar como "bons espaços e ambientes domésticos", abordando-se as matérias

The effects of climate dynamics on urban areas involve the aggravation of existing conditions and the potential for emergence of new hazards or risk factors. Floods are recognized as a leading source of consequences to society, including disruption of critical functions in urban areas, and to the environment. Consideration of the interplay between services providers ensuring urban functions is essential to deal with climate dynamics and associated risks. Assessment of resilience to multiple hazards requires integrated and multi-sectoral approaches embracing each strategic urban sector and interactions between them. A common limitation resides in the limited data and tools available for undertaking these complex assessments. The paper proposes a methodology to undertake the spatial characterization of the flood related hazards and exposure of both essential functions and services providers in urban areas, in the context of limitations in data and in ready-to-use tools. Results support the resilience assessment of these hazards, taking into account interdependencies and cascading effects. The approach is applied to Lisbon city as the study case. Results are promising in demonstrating the potential of combining data and knowledge from different sources with dual modelling approaches, allowing us to obtain trends on the magnitude of effects of climate scenarios and to assess potential benefits of adaptation strategies. Quantification of the effects is reached, but results need to be assessed together with the underlying levels of uncertainty. The methodology can facilitate dialogue among stakeholders and between different decision levels

Counter to the notion that the production of azulejos in Portugal during the 16th century was scant, recent excavations are bringing to light shards that point to the opposite. The variety of fragments recovered from the ground will need many years of study to return a clear notion of what actually was produced at the time. In some instances, we come across particularly interesting cases, which are in a condition good enough to allow attribution based on previous research. A recent excavation at an area once part of the grounds of the ancient Convento do Carmo (Carmo Convent) recovered a large fragment that offers stylistically an immediate connection with less known productions of Antwerp. This paper includes the results of an analytical research of that fragment and discusses its provenance, significance and likely chronology.

A set of scale-model tests carried out to enlarge the range of wave steepness values analysed in run-up, overtopping and armour layer stability studies, focusing on oblique extreme wave conditions and on their effects on a gentler slope breakwater

The interface between the main channel and the floodplain of a compound channel is often populated by trees or buildings that normally remainemergent during floods. This study investigates how drag on an emergent cylinder is affected by the shear flow that develops at the interface. Theexperimental set-up features a circular cylinder at the interface of a straight compound channel under uniform flow conditions. The integral form of theequation of conservation of momentum was used to calculate the magnitude and direction of the time-averaged drag force per unit submerged-lengthof the cylinder. All terms were experimentally determined, except for those associated with fluid interaction with the cylinder. The same method wasalso applied to a cylinder under symmetrical flow conditions. It is concluded that the existence of the shear layer leads to an asymmetrical drag forceand to a reduced drag coefficient.