A multi-criteria assessment of the implementation of innovative technologies to achieve different levels of microplastics and macroplastics reduction.

This paper proposes and applies a multicriteria decision analysis framework tailored to assess measures for reducing the concentration of microplastics and macroplastics in seas, by implementing ground-breaking clean-up technologies and addressing different types of pollutant sources. Environmental, socio-economic and financial impacts are considered to provide a ranking of these measures for better-informed decision making. The data required to evaluate the performance of the technologies in different locations and scales are analyzed to understand the consequences of the different measures in terms of plastic pathways and sites, and the amounts accumulated, using innovative simulation models. The framework is applied to the Mediterranean Sea, providing insights for designing measures to respond to the challenges of cleaning seas and fulfill the EU marine strategy. The results for the best ranked alternatives show that dealing with microplastics is much more expensive (by one order of magnitude) than dealing with macroplastics.

A multi-criteria assessment of policies to achieve the objectives of the EU marine litter strategy.

This paper proposes and assesses policy options to achieve the objectives of the EU marine litter strategy, based on the existing EU legislation. A group of experts and stakeholders was involved through a multi-staged workshop organized to generate the information to assess the contribution of the policies to the set of objectives, as well as the relative importance of the objectives, on qualitative scales. The ELECTRE TRI multi-criteria decision analysis method was used to rate the policies, which were subsequently ranked. Per the results, all policies deserve to be considered, even when the more pessimistic assessments (33rd percentile) are used. Revising the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, setting legislative targets on marine litter and ensure they are fully monitored, and funding proven clean-up technologies were deemed to be the most potentially impactful policies. The remaining policies assessed can nevertheless play an important role in complementing the higher-ranked policies.

Nitrogen legacies in anthropogenic landscapes: a case study in the Mondego Basin in Portugal.

Nitrogen (N) legacies have built up in anthropogenic landscapes over decades of agricultural intensification, and these legacies lead to time lags in water quality change measurable even beyond the moment of application of N. It is important to understand these legacies to quantify the relationship between N inputs and N concentrations in streams and implement best management practices for water quality improvement; however, little is known about the magnitude of legacies in various landscape elements like soils and groundwater. Here, we have used the ELEMeNT (Exploration of Long-tErM Nutrient Trajectories) model to explore the buildup and depletion of N legacies over a 216-year period, across the Mondego River Basin, a 6645-km2 watershed in Portugal, where human interventions have considerably changed the characteristics of the basin to prevent floods and improve farming conditions in recent decades. The results show that the increase in the amount of inorganic fertilizer applied was the main driver for the anthropogenic N loads in the watershed from 1950 until the beginning of the 1990s. The N inputs have been decreasing since then, but N loads in the river did not document any decrease till the 1990s; after which there was a decline. This time lag between the N inputs to the watershed and the N loads in the river (about two decades) is a function of accumulation of N legacy.

Robust optimization approach to regional wastewater system planning.

Wastewater systems are subject to several sources of uncertainty. Different scenarios can occur in the future, depending on the behavior of a variety of demographic, economic, environmental, and technological variables. Robust optimization approaches are aimed at finding solutions that will perform well under any likely scenario. The planning decisions to be made about wastewater system planning involve two main issues: the setup and operation costs of sewer networks, treatment plants, and possible pump stations; and the water quality parameters to be met in the water body where the (treated) wastewater is discharged. The source of uncertainty considered in this article is the flow of the river that receives the wastewater generated in a given region. Three robust optimization models for regional wastewater system planning are proposed. The models are solved using a simulated annealing algorithm enhanced with a local improvement procedure. Their application is illustrated through a case study representing a real-world situation, with the results being compared and commented upon.

Intercorrências clínicas na síndrome de Turner / Clinical intercurrence in Turner's syndrome

Neste trabalho descrevemos as malformaçöes e co-morbidades observadas em pacientes com síndrome de Turner (ST). Foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo, avaliando os prontuários de 60 pacientes cujo diagnóstico de ST foi confirmado através do cariótipo, desde a fase pré-natal até a idade de 49 anos. As pacientes encontram-se com idades entre 1 e 50 anos e foram evoluídas num período de 4 meses a 29 anos. Trinta e uma apresentavam o cariótipo 45X0, 24 eram mosaico e 5 apresentavam o padräo 46Xi, (i,Xq). Todas tinham baixa estatura e algum tipo de estigma. Cinco (8,3 por cento) näo apresentavam outras malformaçöes congênitas e eram saudàveis; 55 (91,6 por cento) apresentavam doenças associadas, sendo que em 23 (38,3 por cento) foram detectadas doenças endócrinas, em 16 (26,6 por cento) otorrinolaringológicas, 15 (25 por cento) cardiológicas, 14 (23,3 por cento) nefrológicas e 6 (10 por cento) gastrointestinais. Entre as doenças endócrinas mais comuns, observamos hipotireoidismo (36,6 por cento), seguido de osteo-porose (18,3 por cento) e hiperlipemia (11,6 por cento). As doenças otorrinolaringológicas mais comuns foram as infecçöes (otite média e amigdalite); das doenças cardiológicas, as valvulopatias (principalmente aorta bicúspide), das nefrológicas as duplicaçöes do sistema coletor e rotaçöes renais e das gastrointestinais foram observados dois casos de divertículo de Meckel. Encontramos maior prevalência de malformaçöes cardíacas nas pacientes com cariótipo 45X0, embora sem significância estatística quando considerados os demais cariótipos. Concluímos que, devido à alta ocorrência de doenças nesta síndrome, estas devem ser acompanhadas periodicamente em diferentes especialidades.