Browsing by Author "Barros, Nelson"
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- Analysis of the effectiveness of the NEC Directive on the tropospheric ozone levels in PortugalPublication . Barros, Nelson; Fontes, Tânia; Silva, M.P.; Manso, M. Conceição; Carvalho, A.C.The National Emission Ceilings Directive 2001/81/CE (NEC Directive) was adopted in the European Community in 2001 and went through a revision process in 2005. One of its main objectives is to improve the protection of the environment and human health against the risks of adverse effects from ground-level ozone, moving towards the long-term objective of not exceeding critical levels proved to effectively protect the populations and ecosystems. Considering such objectives, national emission ceilings were established imposing the years 2010 and 2020 as benchmarks. Ten years later, what was the effectiveness of this Directive concerning the control of tropospheric ozone levels in Portugal? In order to answer the previous question, annual ozone precursors' emissions (NOx, NMVOC) and annual atmospheric concentrations (NOx and O3) were analyzed between 1990 and 2011. The background concentrations were assessed in each environment type of air quality station (urban, suburban and rural) through their annual mean ozone concentration and the hourly information threshold exceedances (episodic peak levels). To evaluate the statistical differences in the inter-annual episodic peak levels, a Peak Ozone Index (POIx) was defined and calculated. The results show that, despite the achievement on the emissions NEC Directive goals, associated to the reduction of ozone precursors' emissions, and the decrease of ozone episodic peak levels, the mean tropospheric ozone concentrations significantly increased between 2003 and 2007 (p < 0.05) although the number of exceedances to the information threshold (180 mg m3 ) has decreased. During the period of 1990e2000, before the implementation of the NEC Directive, the mean ozone values were 25% lower in rural stations, 26% in urban stations and 12% in suburban stations, demonstrating that the NEC policy based on NOx and NMVOCs emissions reduction does not lead to an effective overall reduction of ozone concentrations considering the reduction on these pollutants independently. Indeed, the mesoscale ozone production and/or the long range advection may play also an important role as the analysis of Mace Head ozone concentrations suggests. Above all, and due to its non-linear interactions in the ozone chemical balance, the NEC directive should impose emissions' reduction respecting the NOx/NMVOC ratio instead of consider it as a mere guideline value. The mesoscale photochemical ozone production should be carefully analyzed under the new policies, namely in coastal countries like Portugal where the mesoscale circulations play a crucial role in this type of phenomena.
- Applied terminology in geodiversity and geotourism activity: a sustainable conceptual exercisePublication . Veras, Ana Sibelonia Saldanha; Barros, Nelson; Dinis, Maria Alzira PimentaObjective: Promoting environmental geoconservation, geodiversity and local culture, namely through tours and research on these natural environments. Theoretical Framework:t is based on modern scientific definitions used in geology, geomorphology, paleontology, culture, and for educational and geotourism purposes. Method: The literature review significantly contextualizes knowledge and broad understanding, as well as advances in the terminology most used in geotourism activity, adopted in Brazil and European references in the area.It is representativeness: relational: the suitability of the geosite to illustrate a geological process or quality, which contributes significantly to the understanding of the theme, process, characteristic or (i) representation: geological context, (ii) integrity: related to the state of conservation of the geosite, (iii) rarity: number of geosites in the geological study area, (iv) scientific knowledge. Results and Discussion:The results obtained revealed that review studies of specialized terminology applied in geodiversity and geotourism activity play a significant role in interpreting unique places where most geosites occur, attracting tourists who are increasingly surprised by geosites. Research Implications: The implications of geosite terminology do not involve universal consensus, and there are several ways to scientifically describe a geosite in the context of a type of terrestrial relief, geological structure and minerals. This interpretation shouldbe carried out by a specialist or by experienced people who are knowledgeable about the local specificities. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by addressing the terminology applied in geoscience that encompasses geodiversity andgeotourism. The relevance and potential of geosites for education, scientific interpretation of geological characteristics in the central region of the North Amazon.
- Avaliação da exposição atmosférica ao benzeno na Área Metropolitana do PortoPublication . Fontes, Tânia; Barros, NelsonNo âmbito de um trabalho de investigação mais vasto, onde se pretende avaliar a influência dos níveis de benzeno na saúde pública da Área metropolitana do porto, foi desenvolvida e aplicada uma metodologia para estimar a exposição da população a este poluente. A análise dos resultados obtidos indica que, para além das concentrações de benzeno registadas no concelho de residência, as deslocações pendulares para outros concelhos, bem como as concentrações de benzeno aí encontradas, condiciona de forma definitiva o resultado final da estimativa da exposição da população a este poluente. As part of a larger research project to assess the influence of benzene on public health of oporto metropolitan Area, a methodology to estimate the population exposure to this pollutant has been developed and applied. the benzene concentrations recorded in the municipality of residence and the number of pendular movements, have a major influence on the estimation of the population exposure to this pollutant.
- Avaliação das condições de transporte e dispersão atmosférica junto à Via de Cintura InternaPublication . Barros, Nelson; Marques, Ricardo; Fontes, TâniaCom vista à modelação da qualidade do ar, junto à Via de Cintura Interna (VCI), no âmbito do Projecto ImpactAir procedeu-se à análise dos dados registados na estação meteorológica automática instalada no Nó do Amial, bem como à avaliação das condições de estabilidade atmosférica para o período compreendido entre Abril de 2004 e Abril de 2006. Verifica-se que, em geral, de Verão predominam ventos de Noroeste e situações de instabilidade atmosférica e que, de Inverno, predominam ventos do quadrante Este e situações de estabilidade atmosférica neutra ou estável. Regarding the air quality modelling, near VCI (Oporto) highway, in the scope of ImpactAir project the meteorological data recorded by the Automatic Meteorological Station installed in Amial’s highway intersection have been analyzed and the evaluation of the atmospheric stability has been done for the period between April 2004 and April 2006. It was verified that in the summer, Northwest’s direction winds and atmospheric instability situations predominate and, in the winter, the wind direction is predominantly from East quadrant, with neutral and stable stability conditions.
- Behavioural mapping of urban green spaces users: methodological procedures applied to Corujeira Garden (Porto, Portugal)Publication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Patoilo Teixeira, Catarina; Dias, Ricardo; Seixas, Paulo Castro; Barros, Nelson; Vilaça, Helena; Maia, Rui LeandroCurrent evidence states that urban green spaces (UGS) increase the quality of urban settings, enhance local resilience and promote sustainable lifestyles, being recognized as an effective nature-based-solution. The socioecological research, by combining social and ecological variables, is useful to fully explore Humans-Nature interactions. The direct observation of behaviours is a mobilized technique in socioecological research. However, two particular aspects of this technique should be further explored: the relationship of individuals with the UGS and the mapping of the behaviours that configure this relationship. The present work describes the methodological steps of the Behavioural Mapping (BM) application in a public garden located in the city of Porto regarding users’ behaviours. Preliminary findings identified that the poor quality of both urban furniture and maintenance of natural elements in the garden strongly discouraged a full enjoyment of the UGS. Also, warm areas with trees are usually preferred by users. The absence of well-maintained natural elements does not allow full fruition of the UGS. Based on these findings, BM can be useful for both socioecological research and supporting people-centred and place-based public policies. BM can support landscape planners and decision-makers with empirical evidence on the relationship between space design and its uses.
- BR-174 highway, geotourism and socio-environmental conflicts in the northern remote regions of the AmazonPublication . Veras, Ana Sibelonia Saldanha; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Wahaj, Zujaja; Ahmed, Waqas; Barros, Nelson; Dinis, Maria Alzira PimentaBR-174 in Brazil, also known as Manaus–Boa Vista, is a longitudinal highway that connects the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Amazonas and Roraima to Venezuela, being the only terrestrial connection between Roraima and the rest of Brazil. Its construction took place in 1968 and its inauguration in 1977, aiming to promote the interconnection of the State of Roraima, as a geopolitical strategy, with the rest of the country and, later, with South America. The construction of the BR-174 crossed the Waimiri Atroaris indigenous land, resulting in serious socio-environmental conflicts in the 1970s. Furthermore, recent research indicates that the deforestation process in the Amazon is associated with the opening of roads, as it favours the migratory flow, the occupation of land and logging. In this context, the arrival of migrants and, consequently, the pressing need to settle newly arrived people in search of land, favoured the damming of watercourses, the reduction of wild fauna and deforestation as a result of the construction of the road and neighbouring areas. However, and currently, BR-174 translates into a strategy of progress and communication, uniting adjacent communities, on the one hand, and, on the other, allowing the use of biophysical resources in favour of the development of geotourism. Considering this reality and from the perspective of the social and environmental transformations that have occurred, the objective of this paper is to analyse the potential of the BR-174 for the development of geotourism, as a way of mitigating its socio-environmental impacts and connecting geographically remote regions. The qualitative nature approach is based on the treatment and analysis of available bibliographic and documental sources. As the only land connection in the State of Roraima, and in addition to the negative impacts on the socio-environmental profile of the region, it can be concluded that the BR-174 highway has the potential to be an element facilitating the promotion of geotourism in the remote region of Amazon, contributing to the socio-environmental safeguard of this region.
- Building bridges between indigenous peoples and geotourism activity: the case of the raposa ethnoregion in Roraima, BrazilPublication . Saldanha Veras, Ana Sibelonia; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Barros, Nelson; Dinis, Maria Alzira PimentaThe state of Roraima in Brazil registers a significant number of Indigenous People (IP), distributed throughout a diversity of ethnoregions. Among them, the municipalities of Amajari, located near the region of the riverbed of Baixo Cotingo, and in the upper Ajarani River, stand out. These IP include the ethnic groups of Macuxi, Ingaricó, Taurepang and Wapixanas, which together aggregate a culturally well-developed contingent. In the municipality of Mucajaí lives another IP community, the Yanomami, recognized as the most isolated IP from South America. These communities live in two regions with potential for geotourism activity: the Extreme North Tourist Region of Brazil, covering an environment which is extremely rich in diversity of landforms, such as hills, plateaus, and valleys, and the Roraima Tourist Region in the Amazon Savanna forests. The objective of this research is to present the Macuxi and Yanomami communities in the region, which are engaged with ethnic tourism activities, highlighting their skills in promoting sustainable tourism management, namely geotourism. The methodology is qualitative exploratory, based on literature and document research in the division of ecotourism in the Mucajaí State Department for Planning. This review work was carried out from June to August 2021. Among the distinct realities relating to the environment, the results indicate that the IP from the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land feel the need for training to better understand how to welcome the tourist, and, thus, attend the requirements of the Normative Instruction n. 03/2015, which establishes norms and guidelines regarding visitation activities for tourism purposes in indigenous lands (IL). The Yanomami indigenous community also seeks partnership with institutions, either under the form of events, workshops or meetings to conceptualize and carry out strategies allowing to structure the geotourism activity. Accordingly, tourism workshops were implemented, aiming to attend the planning and development of indigenous community tourism to offer a unique tourist experience, thus contributing to build bridges between the indigenous communities and the geotourism activity, in a broader context of the concept of sustainable development.
- Can artificial neural networks be used to predict the origin of ozone episodes?Publication . Fontes, Tânia; Silva, Luís; Silva, Márcia; Barros, Nelson; Carvalho, Ana CristinaTropospheric ozone is a secondary pollutant having a negative impact on health and environment. To control and minimize such impact the European Community established regulations to promote a clean air all over Europe. However, when an episode is related with natural mechanisms as Stratosphere–Troposphere Exchanges (STE), the benefits of an action plan to minimize precursor emissions are inefficient. Therefore, this work aims to develop a tool to identify the sources of ozone episodes in order to minimize misclassification and thus avoid the implementation of inappropriate air quality plans. For this purpose, an artificial neural network model – the Multilayer Perceptron – is used as a binary classifier of the source of an ozone episode. Long data series, between 2001 and 2010, considering the ozone precursors, 7 Be activity and meteorological conditions were used. With this model, 2–7% of a mean error was achieved, which is considered as a good generalization. Accuracy measures for imbalanced data are also discussed. The MCC values show a good performance of the model (0.65–0.92). Precision and F1-measure indicate that the model specifies a little better the rare class. Thus, the results demonstrate that such a tool can be used to help authorities in the management of ozone, namely when its thresholds are exceeded due natural causes, as the above mentioned STE. Therefore, the resources used to implement an action plan to minimize ozone precursors could be better managed avoiding the implementation of inappropriate measures.
- Clustering public urban green spaces through ecosystem services potential: a typology proposal for place-based interventionsPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dias, Ricardo; Patoilo Teixeira, Catarina; Fernandes, Cláudia; Filho, Walter Leal; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroPublic Urban Green Spaces (PUGS) are the main drivers for increasing the quality of urban environments, potentiating local resilience, promoting sustainable lifestyles, as well as improving both the health and well-being of their users. Municipal leaders are responsible for the maintenance of PUGS. However, current evidence identifies limited knowledge about urban green infrastructure governance since the lack of data about PUGS is the main obstacle to effective intervention. Set against this background, this study aimed to identify clusters of ecosystem services potential in 25 PUGS in the city of Porto, Portugal, through a validated tool application. Multivariate techniques allowed identifying predictor dimensions of ecosystem services potential: the environmental quality and facilities. Five PUGS clusters were validated: i) Environmentally Empowered and Socially Expectant Spaces, ii) Socioenvironmentally Empowered Spaces, iii) Environmentally Empowered but Socially Un-dynamic Spaces, iv) Socioenvironmentally Disempowered Spaces, and v) Socioenvironmentally Unexplored Spaces. This typology proposal brings to the discussion a possible solution for better qualifying these spaces, as it complements PUGS type with a socioeconomic and environmental characterisation. Furthermore, these results are useful in the design of place-based intervention in PUGS, contributing to the increase of ecosystem services potential and improving urban environment quality and sustainability.
- Co-incineração em fornos de cimenteiras: análise de casoPublication . Brenhas, Maria José; Machado, Rosário; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Barros, NelsonCom o objectivo de conhecer o processo da co-incineração, foram realizadas visitas ao sistema integrado de tratamento e eliminação de resíduos, sA (sisAV), na chamusca, e à cimpor, em souselas. pode concluir-se que o tratamento das emissões gasosas, principal questão conflituosa associada à co-incineração, não difere substancialmente daquele realizado nas instalações onde se procede à queima de combustíveis fósseis, excepto no tocante à instalação de algum equipamento adicional. Não podendo afirmar-se que se trate da solução ideal para a eliminação dos resíduos perigosos, apresenta vantagens como seja o aproveitamento de instalações pré-existentes, ao mesmo tempo que se minimiza a utilização de energia não renovável. Aiming to understand the co-incineration process, the sistema integrado de tratamento e eliminação de resíduos, sA (sisAV), in chamusca, and the cimpor, in souselas, both in portugal, were the two facilities visited to that purpose. It is possible to conclude that the treatment of atmospheric emissions, the main concern associated to conflicts in co-incineration, does not substantially differ from the one used in facilities where fossil fuel is burnt,except in what concerns to some additional equipment that must be installed. though it is not possible to state that this is the ideal solution to solve the hazard waste problem, it has advantages such as the use of pre-existing facilities and, at the same time, the use of nonrenewable energy sources is minimized.