Unidade de Investigação - INESCC-DL – Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores de Coimbra [delegação Politécnico de Leiria]
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Browsing Unidade de Investigação - INESCC-DL – Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores de Coimbra [delegação Politécnico de Leiria] by Field of Science and Technology (FOS) "Ciências Naturais::Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente"
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- Assessing the influence of uncertainty in land cover mapping and digital elevation models on flood risk mappingPublication . Gonçalves, Luísa M.S.; Fonte, Cidália C.; Gomes, RicardoThis paper proposes an approach to assess the influence of the uncertainty present in the parameters dependent on the land cover and elevation data over the peak flow values and the subsequent delineation of flooded areas. The proposed approach was applied to produce vulnerability and risk maps that integrate uncertainty for the urban area of Leiria, Portugal. A SPOT-4 satellite image and DEMs of the region were used. The peak flow was computed using the Soil Conservation Service method and HECHMS, HEC-RAS, Matlab and ArcGIS software programs were used. The analysis of the results obtained for the presented case study enables the identification of the order of magnitude of uncertainty associated to the watershed peak flow value and the identification of the areas which are more susceptible to flood risk to be identified.
- Dynamics parameters estimation of an asynchronous machine plus mechanical shaft set through orbit frequency response analysisPublication . Oliveira, F.; Donsión, M. P.; Peláez, G.This paper presents some of the results obtained upon the experimental study of the behaviour of a prototype mechanical shaft driven by an induction electric machine. The main focus of this paper will be on the mechanical response of the set, based on the measurement of a number of mechanical variables and its integration in well-known mechanical models, allowing a more accurate estimation of the actual parameters of the prototype machine. The results thus obtained can then be used to test the theoretical models, estimate mechanical parameters more accurately and generally increase knowledge on the mechanical response of the prototype set.
- The Effect of a Naturally Ventilated Roof on the Thermal Behaviour of a Building under Mediterranean Summer ConditionsPublication . Ramos, João; Aires, LuisWith the increasing cost associated with energy consumption, climate change and the greater awareness of the population to issues related to energy and environmental efficiency, energy conservation in buildings has been encouraged, along with the development of several solutions based on a more sustainable construction. Building cooling is the most challenging issue in the Mediterranean climate. The roof is one of the main elements of the building’s opaque envelope, where the choice of materials and the implementation of appropriate passive technologies determine the thermal performance of a building. The present work aims to assess the impact of natural ventilation of a roof cavity on the thermal environment of a dwelling house under Mediterranean summer conditions. An experimental study was developed in a small-scale prototype of a typical dwelling house, comprising a ceramic tile roof with vented eaves and insulated sub-tile panels according to the construction solution of the Humbelino Monteiro SA company. The thermal performance of this roof solution was assessed under real climatic conditions based on continuous measurements of the air velocity inside the air gap, the temperature of the air and the surface temperature of all roof layers. Weather conditions were also monitored continuously. Connected with the heat transfer mechanisms, the obtained temperature and air velocity profiles data were analysed and discussed.
- Energy management in municipal solid waste treatment: A case study of a mechanical biological treatment facilityPublication . Bernardo, Hermano; Oliveira, Filipe Tadeu; Quintal, EdgarOver the last few years, mechanical biological treatment systems for municipal solid waste have been introduced in many European countries. In most cases, this was driven by the European Union Landfill Directive, which requires the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill to alternative processes. Although this type of treatment allows energy recovery from municipal solid waste, the process of mechanical biological treatment appears to be an intensive energy consumer, due to high demand of electricity consumed by process equipment. This paper presents the main results of an energy audit performed to a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility in Portugal, which due to the amount of energy consumed must comply with the Portuguese Program called Intensive Energy Consumption Management System – SGCIE. The program was created in 2008 to promote energy efficiency and energy consumption monitoring in intensive energy facilities (energy consumption higher than 500 toe per year). Facilities operators are required to perform energy audits and take actions to draw up an action plan for energy efficiency, establishing targets for energy consumption reduction and greenhouse gases emissions indexes. To implement actions that improve energy efficiency, it is necessary for the facilities operation to be associated with an effective energy management methodology, as well as an efficient facilities management procedure. The implementation of any energy management system should start with an energy audit, which was carried out to identify potential energy conservation measures for improving energy efficiency, and also typical energy consumption patterns and sector/equipment load profiles. This tool gives managers the information to support decision making on improving energy performance and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Results shown that there is a considerable potential for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions on Mechanical Biological Treatment units. Here, as elsewhere in the industrial sector, energy efficiency can only be achieved through a continuous energy monitoring and management system.
- Indoor air quality audit in two office buildings in PortugalPublication . Ramos, Joao; Pinto, FernandoThe indoor air quality that a building presents is not always from our knowledge. In fact, we may find ourselves exposed to an indoor air which can be harmful to human health, affecting the quality of life and productivity, which also will have economic repercussions at this level. Given the Portuguese law for energy and indoor air quality (IAQ) certification of large service buildings, the indoor air quality requirements were here presented and, in addition, this paper provides an overview of the current Portuguese IAQ technical procedures to audit existent buildings. It was also intended with this study to evaluate the indoor air quality experienced by the occupants of two office buildings, an old and a recent, with the same activity and occupancy, without air-conditioning systems, where were carried out indoor air quality characterizations and, in particular, have been assessed the CO2 concentration and the typical renewal air exchange rates in different zones of the buildings, as a ventilation effectiveness monitoring. During the building's regular occupancy period, the authors have been done monitoring campaigns, which took place in winter and summer seasons. They have been detected that the values of some parameters under review were non-compliance situations in winter, in contrast with the summer due to the increase of ventilation promoted by the occupants taking advantage of the favourable conditions of the Mediterranean weather. Consequently, the proposed IAQ audit approach may be helpful to characterize indoor air pollutants, to evaluate the ventilation effectiveness and to correlate it with the indoor air quality perception and self-control actions of the occupants.
- No polarization–Expected Values of Climate Change Impacts among European Forest Professionals and ScientistsPublication . Persson, Johannes; Blennow, Kristina; Gonçalves, Luisa; Borys, Alexander; Dutcă, Ioan; Hynynen, Jari; Janeczko, Emilia; Lyubenova, Mariyana; Martel, Simon; Merganic, Jan; Merganičová, Katarína; Peltoniemi, Mikko; Petr, Michal; Reboredo, Fernando H.; Vacchiano, Giorgio; Reyer, Christopher P. O.The role of values in climate-related decision-making is a prominent theme of climate communication research. The present study examines whether forest professionals are more driven by values than scientists are, and if this results in value polarization. A questionnaire was designed to elicit and assess the values assigned to expected effects of climate change by forest professionals and scientists working on forests and climate change in Europe. The countries involved covered a north-to-south and west-to-east gradient across Europe, representing a wide range of bio-climatic conditions and a mix of economic-social-political structures. We show that European forest professionals and scientists do not exhibit polarized expectations about the values of specific impacts of climate change on forests in their countries. In fact, few differences between forest professionals and scientists were found. However, there are interesting differences in the expected values of forest professionals with regard to climate change impacts across European countries. In Northern European countries, the aggregated values of the expected effects are more neutral than they are in Southern Europe, where they are more negative. Expectations about impacts on timber production, economic returns, and regulatory ecosystem services are mostly negative, while expectations about biodiversity and energy production are mostly positive.
- Operating an electric motor in saturation – mechanical vibrations and other effectsPublication . Oliveira, F.; Donsión, M. P.; Iwaszkiewicz, Jan; Perz, JacekThis paper addresses some of the effects of running an electric motor near and in the saturation zone of the electromagnetic hysteresis curve, namely mechanical effects such as mechanical vibrations and rotation speed apart from the classic electrical and thermal effects. Mechanical vibrations are intrinsically characteristic of rotating machines, and other turbomachine characteristics, such as rotor unbalance, non-linearity and shaft variable stiffness can introduce severe disturbances in the operation of the machine. Rotation speed is also affected by electric parameters, when the mechanical machine is connect to an electric machine, meaning both the electric machine type and the process by which it is driven affects both the value of speed and its constancy.
- Quantifying Marine Macro Litter Abundance on a Sandy Beach Using Unmanned Aerial Systems and Object-Oriented Machine Learning MethodsPublication . Gonçalves, Gil; Andriolo, Umberto; Gonçalves, Luisa; Sobral, Paula; Bessa, FilipaUnmanned aerial systems (UASs) have recently been proven to be valuable remote sensing tools for detecting marine macro litter (MML), with the potential of supporting pollution monitoring programs on coasts. Very low altitude images, acquired with a low-cost RGB camera onboard a UAS on a sandy beach, were used to characterize the abundance of stranded macro litter. We developed an object-oriented classification strategy for automatically identifying the marine macro litter items on a UAS-based orthomosaic. A comparison is presented among three automated object-oriented machine learning (OOML) techniques, namely random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN). Overall, the detection was satisfactory for the three techniques, with mean F-scores of 65% for KNN, 68% for SVM, and 72% for RF. A comparison with manual detection showed that the RF technique was the most accurate OOML macro litter detector, as it returned the best overall detection quality (F-score) with the lowest number of false positives. Because the number of tuning parameters varied among the three automated machine learning techniques and considering that the three generated abundance maps correlated similarly with the abundance map produced manually, the simplest KNN classifier was preferred to the more complex RF. This work contributes to advances in remote sensing marine litter surveys on coasts, optimizing the automated detection on UAS-derived orthomosaics. MML abundance maps, produced by UAS surveys, assist coastal managers and authorities through environmental pollution monitoring programs. In addition, they contribute to search and evaluation of the mitigation measures and improve clean-up operations on coastal environments.
- The role of beliefs, expectations and values in decision-making favoring climate change adaptation - Implications for communications with European forest professionalsPublication . Blennow, K.; Persson, J.; Gonçalves, Luísa M.S.; Borys, A.; Dutcă, I.; Hynynen, J.; Janeczko, E.; Lyubenova, M.; Merganič, J.; Merganičová, K.; Peltoniemi, M.; Petr, M.; Reboredo, F.; Vacchiano, G.; Reyer, C. P. O.Beliefs, expectations and values are often assumed to drive decisions about climate change adaptation. We tested hypotheses based on this assumption using survey responses from 508 European forest professionals in ten countries. We used the survey results to identify communication needs and the decision strategies at play, and to develop guidelines on adequate communications about climate change adaptation. We observed polarization in the positive and negative values associated with climate change impacts accepted by survey respondents. We identified a mechanism creating the polarization that we call the 'blocked belief' effect. We found that polarized values did not correlate with decisions about climate change adaptation. Strong belief in the local impacts of climate change on the forest was, however, a prerequisite of decision-making favoring adaptation. Decision-making in favor of adaptation to climate change also correlated with net values of expected specific impacts on the forest and generally increased with the absolute value of these in the absence of 'tipping point' behavior. Tipping point behavior occurs when adaptation is not pursued in spite of the strongly negative or positive net value of expected climate change impacts. We observed negative and positive tipping point behavior, mainly in SW Europe and N-NE Europe, respectively. In addition we found that advice on effective adaptation may inhibit adaptation when the receiver is aware of effective adaptation measures unless it is balanced with information explaining how climate change leads to negative impacts. Forest professionals with weak expectations of impacts require communications on climate change and its impacts on forests before any advice on adaptation measures can be effective. We develop evidence-based guidelines on communications using a new methodology which includes Bayesian machine learning modeling of the equivalent of an expected utility function for the adaptation decision problem.