The effectiveness of European regulation for vehicle noise control

Europe is changing its regulation on the noise emitted by vehicles because the European community realized that noise levels on streets and in buildings are higher than expected. There are many possible reasons for this public health problem, among others: the growth of the vehicle fleet and the inefficiency of the type of approval method. In response to this problem, the ISO 362-1 has been revised, and now vehicles are tested under less severe conditions but, in the light of the driving habits in the urban centres, experts say this new procedure is more realistic than the previous one. However, on critical analysis, one can find some points, such as the lack of importance given to the engine cooling system and the way in which urban buses are assessed in the same way as delivery trucks, among other points that may annul the effect of this new European proposal. Vehicle manufacturers hope that ISO 362-1 will be adopted by as many countries as possible around the world, in order to reduce development costs, but some weak points may make its acceptance by other countries’ governments difficult. Many countries around the world are facing the same environmental problem faced by Europe, and they need to improve their legislation on vehicle noise control, but some experts are not fully convinced as to the environmental benefits of this new method and tend to adopt other methods, considered more effective, which can be a problem for vehicle manufacturers, due to the final costs of vehicles. This study seeks to discuss some of these points of possible improvement and show what it is possible to do to arrive at an effective global method to produce good results which will, probably, be of easier acceptance on the part of other countries not belonging to the European Union.

Voluntary Mexican standard for sustainable building: environmental criteria and minimum requirements

This paper presents the elaboration process and scope of the voluntary Mexican Standard for Sustainable Building (NMX-AA-164-SCFI-2013), headed by the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry. The NMX-AA-164-SCFI-2013 standard emerges from the Mexican government’s need to have a regulatory instrument that impacts the current construction practices, leading them to a more sustainable model of edification, which contributes to the environmental protection, the integration of buildings within the city and its surroundings, the health and comfort of the building occupants and people’s productivity. A multidisciplinary working group was jointed for drafting the document, comprising members of academy, industry, civil society and federal and local government. The starting point was the existing regulation and then setting higher levels of environmental performance and not only in the traditional schemes, such as energy efficiency and water use, but increasing its range by adding a new vision to the relationship between buildings and the city and with the environment, also the social responsibility and a life cycle approach. The Standard focuses on five different topics: Territory, Energy, Water, Materials and Waste, Environmental Quality and Social Responsibility. Each of these topics was established with mandatory and optional components. Once we have described the content of the Standard, we do a comparative analysis with other international certifications, especially with BREAM and LEED, looking for convergence points and the features given for the national context.

Production and purification of hydrogen-methane mixtures utilized in internal combustion engines

Blends of hydrogen and methane (hythane) with 20–25% of H₂ can be used in internal combustion engines in order to reduce the CO₂ and unburned hydrocarbon emissions and greenhouse effect. In this paper the authors show that solar steam reforming of natural gas at 500–550°C is a suitable process to produce such a mixture, but the reformed gas must be purified to reduce the CO₂ concentration to less than 3%. To this aim, a first Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) unit, which uses activated carbon as adsorbent material, is proposed to remove carbon dioxide, with H₂ and CH₄ recovery of about 99 and 43%, respectively; to enhance CH₄ recovery, a second PSA unit, using carbon molecular sieve (CMS) as adsorbent, can be introduced. The whole suggested process produces an enriched methane mixture with a hydrogen content of 25%, with an energy consumption of about 270 kJ/kg of hydro-methane, mainly due to the electrical energy required for gas compression and vacuum pumps.

Masonry strain in the Vall d’Aràn churches

Located in the north face of the Spanish Pyrenees, it is in the Vall d’Aran where we find an important ensemble of Romanesque churches built between the 12th and the 16th century. Today those buildings suffer deformations of over 10% from their original shape. Puig i Cadafalch (1908) pointed out that, initially, the basilica roof had a wooden truss that transmitted the weight vertically. Years later, these were substituted by barrel vaults, supported on non-monolithic circular section masonry columns, which meant deformations on the buildings. The level of deformation depends on the stereotomy of the pieces and on the vaults building system. This article is about the different constructive systems used in the churches and the quantification of the geometric deformation in relation with them. After having done the constructive sections of the lay outs of the Santa Maria d’Unha (12th century), Santa Maria de Arties (12–13th century), Santa Maria de Bossost (13th century) and Sant Andreu de Salardu (14th century) churches (between the years 2011 and 2014), the next step has been to study the deformation. These buildings allow us to study the constructive evolution in a period of four centuries.

The design of the modern urban environment of Rovereto, Italy: the valorisation of modern architecture

Systematic improvement of customer satisfaction for passengers with special mobility needs

Public transport operators have to focus on a public transport system, which is inclusive and fair to all groups of society. This requires a new holistic approach reflecting the user and the service provider perspectives. The overall objective is an unrestricted use of a fully integrated cross modal public transportation along the complete mobility chain. Unrestricted use of the public transport system can be facilitated with travel assistance applications for smartphones. In addition to this, every mobility-chain needs to be accompanied by an information chain. The information provided needs to be up to date, relevant to the specific context of the user, correct and understandable. This paper presents the innovative concept of the transnational project “accessible and inclusive mobility for all with individual travel assistance” (aim4it). The project aims towards a holistic travel companion design, which provides value-added services for passenger with special mobility needs. The assistance functions are accompanied by suitable evaluation algorithms for customer feedback. An innovative systematic evaluation of customer feedback allows for continuous improvement activities of the public transport operators. Results of the project will be practically demonstrated in close cooperation with the local public transport operators in the cities of Vienna (Austria) and Karlsruhe (Germany).

Detection of exogenous floating marine debris: an overview of techniques associated with remote sensing

Paige, M., & Painho, M. (2015). Detection of exogenous floating marine debris: An overview of techniques associated with remote sensing. In Water Resources Management VIII (Vol. 196, pp. 537 - 548). (WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment). DOI: 10.2495/WRM150461

Leadership Intelligence Before and After Participation in UGL Leadership Training

The aim of this study was to examine whether there was a difference in three types of leadership intelligence (spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, and rational intelligence) before and after participation in a specific leadership training course. Leadership intelligence was assessed with the aid of the Leadership Intelligence Questionnaire (LIQ; Daderman, Ronthy, Ekegren, & Mardberg, 2013). The study included 125 participants (M = 38 years, SD = 8), 82 of whom were women. The participants achieved significantly higher mean scores in the three types of leadership intelligence after participation in leadership training, than their mean scores before the training. This professional development program may have contributed to the increase in leaders’ mean scores in leadership intelligence, hopefully leading to a higher quality of leadership.

An Integrated Platform Supporting Intangible Cultural Heritage Learning and Transmission: Definition of Requirements and Evaluation Criteria

The paper offers an experience-based viewpoint on two key phases of the development of an Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)-based system: the definition of requirements and identification of related criteria and methodology for its evaluation. In doing so, it refers to the unique context of the i-Treasures EU project, which deals with the development of an innovative integrated platform to support the learning and transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The i-Treasures integrated platform is conceived to support both traditional learning approaches and innovative and active learning processes, based on extensive use of sensor-technologies. In this light, during the development process, particular attention has been devoted to the definition of requirements with specific reference to sensor-mediated Human Computer Interaction (HCI) issues and the evaluation process was designed accordingly, in coherence with the specific advanced features of the integrated platform. The paper offers a view of the complexity of the design of ICT-based tools supporting the preservation and transmission of ICH and also provides an insight (and this could have a broader impact) into the methodology adopted to harmonize the requirements and the evaluation phases which are key pillars for the construction of any educationally effective ICT-based learning system

LEVANTAMENTO EPIDEMIOLÓGICO DAS PARASITOSES INTESTINAIS HUMANAS EM ALUNOS DAS ESCOLAS MUNICIPAIS DE RUBINÉIA E ESMERALDA-SP

As infecções parasitárias intestinais representam um problema de saúde pública mundial. No Brasil, elas apresentam maior prevalência em populações de nível socioeconômico mais baixo e que vivem em condições precárias de saneamento básico, resultando em altos índices de morbidade e mortalidade; sendo um dos principais fatores debilitantes da população e associando-se a quadros de diarréia crônica e desnutrição, comprometendo o desenvolvimento físico e intelectual da população. Apesar dos esforços no combate às verminoses, as infecções intestinais ainda são excessivamente comuns. Nesse trabalho, foram desenvolvidas ações junto aos alunos como a confecção de jogos sobre parasitoses e estudada a distribuição das entoparasitoses mais frequentes nos alunos das escolas de Esmeralda e Rubinéia, SP, no período de abril de 2013 a março de 2014. Foram realizados 21 exames laboratoriais de crianças da faixa etária de 5 a 10 anos. A prevalência de entoparasitoses foi de 47,61% nessa amostragem. As entoparasitoses mais encontradas foram Giárdia lamblia com oito casos (38,57%), Ascaris lumbricóides com um caso (5%) e Entamoeba coli com um caso (5%). Sua maior prevalência foi em crianças do sexo feminino. Acredita-se que as principais causas sejam a falta de higiene pessoal, consumo de verduras e frutas mal lavadas e ingestão de água não tratada. Simples cuidados como lavar as mãos antes das refeições e após ir ao banheiro e lavar corretamente as frutas e verduras ajudam a prevenir tais parasitoses. Após a análise dos resultados, as crianças portadoras de enteroparasitas foram encaminhadas aos postos de saúde para cuidados médicos, onde receberam medicamentos para o tratamento curativo.