Suchergebnisse

The study of the effect of explosive blast in confined spaces, particularly the conditions under which blast is transmitted to adjacent compartments and the effects produced, is of relevance for the vulnerability assessment of buildings, aircraft and ships, being of paramount importance in the context of national security and defence due to the permanent and diverse threats of present times. In particular it is aimed, through numerical modelling of the phenomena, to study the response of adjacent compartments, one of them subjected to an internal explosion, to identify the effect of compartment volume and material properties in the conditions that will cause rupture and loss of structural integrity and the effect in neighbouring structures of the sequential wave blast. Together with the study of the modes of collapse and rupture of materials used in naval shipbuilding, in this case the AA5083-H111 aluminium alloy, the present work will be the basis for the setting-up of a tool for the design of naval ships and vessels, providing the means to analyse and predict their vulnerability to several types of military ordnance.

Farming and environment are key issues on political and social agendas on a global scale. In the past two decades, agricultural systems went through a major revision having in mind ecological and landscape concepts on a conservation basis. Technical profiles (TP) are used as study tools to evaluate operational costs and to assess the deviation between theoretical production models and each farm system. TPs of sustainable crop systems such as integrated production and organic farming are based on principles, tasks and technologies, such as crop protection, cover crops and ecological infrastructures preservation, that expectably induce differences in the functional biodiversity present in each system. The main target of the present work was to develop a methodology to measure the impact(s) of farming practices on pest importance (occurrence and damages) and functional biodiversity. This study was carried out during 2005 and 2006 and was supported by the national project AGRO 545 "The environmental indicators to assess the IPM, the integration production, the organic farming and the sustainable use of pesticides ". A survey was performed with 191 vineyard farmers in the four Portuguese main important regions: Verdes, Douro, Dão and Alentejo. The survey was carried out during the crop season and biodiversity was assessed (pests and beneficial arthropods) simultaneously. The results presented here are related to a preliminary data analysis. As expected, IPM and organic farming impact on the environment tends to be low, but conventional systems revealed a similar tendency, induced by the need of reducing production costs. Differences among regions were also found, as expected, due to territorial structure and farm dimensions. In monitored vineyards, 48.2% of species variance was explained by the studied variables. The number of discontinuities in the surroundings was found to be associated to all arthropod functional groups. ; The authors wish to thank the growers, which kindly allowed us to conduct our work in their orchards and vineyards; APAS, AAPIM, PAINHO, AJAP, ADVID, AVITILIMA, APIDÃO, AGROBIO, ATEVA, SOGRAPE and BIOCOA for technical assistance. This work was financed by the project AGRO 545 "The environmental indicators to ass ; 5 ; 1 ; 8 ; volume 933 ; DE/NEM ; Revista Acta Horticulturae (ISHS)

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this record ; Data Availability Statement: Restrictions apply to the availability of the presented data. ; Findings of Iron Age metallurgical activities related to tin metal and mining are very rare. In the present work, we present a detailed study of the Outeiro de Baltar hillfort, dated to the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period, located in a place where 20th century tin mining work took place. Elemental and microstructural analysis by portable, micro and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF, micro-XRF and WDXRF) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion spectrometer (SEM-EDS) showed that metallurgical debris found at the archaeological site is related to tin smelting and binary and ternary bronze productions. Analysis of the artefacts of diverse typologies found at the site showed that a variety of metals and alloys were in circulation and use. Samples of tin ores (cassiterite) from the region were analyzed for comparison with an archaeological tin slag from the site. The analytical results point to the production of tin metal using local cassiterite and the production of bronze by directly adding cassiterite into a smelting process. Furthermore, data of remote sensing (airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and historical aerial imagery) and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping were combined with archival mining documentation and maps to retrieve a landscape context for the site. The study showed that the place of the Outeiro de Baltar hillfort (NW Iberia) was mined periodically over time. ; European Union Horizon 2020 ; COMPETE 2020 Programme ; Lisboa Regional Programme ; European Regional Development Fund ; FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia)