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This Ph.D. thesis assesses the impact of the change in the hazardous classification of formaldehyde in vehicle paint shops from an environmental and economic perspective. This work includes an evaluation of compliance with the applicable emission limit value for formaldehyde, a proposal of options to reduce the emissions and their economic impact, a Life Cycle Assessment of the painting process in a real vehicle paint shop and an eco-efficiency analysis. The outcomes of this thesis allowed to make a proposal for the most eco-efficient vehicle paint shop in view of formaldehyde emissions performance.

Computer tomography image quality control assessment take part of Cuban national legislation, which could be difficult to accomplish for many reasons. This work is part of the set-up verifications of “in house tool” (EvaCT) designed to calculate parameters of quality control of CT images (CCCT) in various manufacturer’s phantoms, “at distance”. For this, the behavior of the established parameters was studied in 17 studies of the stablished CCCT routine with the Mediso PET/SPECT/CT Anyscan Trio equipment, comparing the results using manufacture´s reference values, and/ or the international recommended parameter´s tolerances. The results of the system were compared numerically with those obtained by the manufacturer, for each available related parameter, in the corresponding protocol, and did not show significant differences (p≥0.05). In general, the system showed a satisfactory behavior, taking as reference the values and tolerances of the manufacturer, CECMED and IAEA. The correlation between quality descriptors established with different methodologies was analyzed. The tool showed correspondence with the manufacturer's results, making available a greater number of parameters and more operational conditions to be evaluated. The mean values ±SD characterize these parameters in the equipment and its phantom, and can be used for periodic, independent and remote CCCT verification., El control de calidad de imagen de Tomografía Computada (TC) es un requisito de la normativa nacional cubana, cuyo cumplimiento se dificulta por varias razones. Este trabajo forma parte de la validación de una herramienta en desarrollo (EvaCT) diseñada para calcular parámetros de control de calidad de imágenes de TC (CCCT) en maniquíes de varios fabricantes, “a distancia”. Para ello, se estudió el comportamiento de los parámetros de control de calidad de imagen, en 17 estudios de la rutina clásica de CCCT equipo Mediso PET/SPECT/CT Anyscan Trio, y se compararon los resultados tomando como referencia los valores y las tolerancias del fabricante, y/o las recomendaciones nacionales e internacionales, según su correspondencia. Los resultados del sistema fueron confrontados numéricamente con los obtenidos por el fabricante, para cada parámetro comprable disponible, en el protocolo correspondiente, y no mostraron diferencias significativas (p≥0.05). En general, el sistema mostró un comportamiento satisfactorio. Se analizó la correlación entre descriptores de calidad establecidos con diferentes metodologías. La herramienta mostró correspondencia con los resultados del fabricante, poniendo a disposición un mayor número de parámetros y condiciones operacionales a evaluar. Conclusiones: Los valores medios ±DE, caracterizan estos parámetros en el equipo-maniquí y se pueden emplear para la verificación periódica, independiente y remota de parámetros de calidad de imagen.

Comprehensive monitoring of NO2 exceedances is imperative for protecting human health, especially in urban areas with traffic. However, an accurate spatial characterization of the exceedances is challenging due to the typically low density of air quality monitoring stations and the inherent uncertainties in urban air quality models. We study how observational data from different sources and timescales can be combined with a dispersion air quality model to obtain bias-corrected NO2 hourly maps at the street scale. We present a kriging-based data fusion workflow that merges dispersion model output with continuous hourly observations and uses a machine-learning-based land use regression (LUR) model constrained with past short intensive passive dosimeter campaign measurements. While the hourly observations allow the bias adjustment of the temporal variability in the dispersion model, the microscale LUR model adds information on the NO2 spatial patterns. Our method includes an uncertainty calculation based on the estimated error variance of the universal kriging technique, which is subsequently used to produce urban maps of probability of exceeding the 200 µg m−3 hourly and the 40 µg m−3 annual NO2 average limits. We assess the statistical performance of this approach in the city of Barcelona for the year 2019. Our results show that simply merging the monitoring stations with the model output already significantly increases the correlation coefficient (r) by +29 % and decreases the root mean square error (RMSE) by −32 %. When adding the time-invariant microscale LUR model in the data fusion workflow, the improvement is even more remarkable, with +46 % and −48 % for the r and RMSE, respectively. Our work highlights the usefulness of high-resolution spatial information in data fusion methods to better estimate exceedances at the street scale., We have received support from the Barcelona City Council through the UncertAIR project (ID 22S09501-001; Recerca Jove i emergent 2022). This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the BROWNING project (grant no. RTI2018-099894-BI00), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación as part of the VITALISE project (grant no. PID2019-108086RA-I00) and the MITIGATE project (grant no. PID2020-116324RA695 I00), the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (grant no. H2020-MSCA-COFUND-2016-754433), the AXA Research Fund, and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (grant nos. RES-AECT-2021-1-0027 and RES-AECT-2021-2-0001)., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

We present an oceanographic research fiberglass reinforced polyester vessel of medium size (19.5 m length x 5.4 m beam) and plug-in hybrid propulsion complemented by a power generation system based on solar panels with polycrystalline cells connected to a charger and two wind turbines connected to their control systems. The vessel will be equipped for scientific research tasks in seas and coastal waters, with an operating cost that makes it viable in the long term, that is environmentally friendly, with an efficient management model, and that facilitates the collection of oceanographic data of high technical quality. [...]

Barcelona city (Spain) is applying a series of traffic restriction measures that aim at renewing and reducing the amount of circulating vehicles to improve air quality. The measures include changes in the built environment to reduce private vehicle space in specific areas through the so-called “superblocks” and tactical urban planning actions, along with the implementation of a city-wide Low Emission Zone (LEZ) that restricts the entry of the most polluting vehicles to the city. Our study quantifies the impact of these measures in the greater area of Barcelona combining a coupled macroscopic traffic and pollutant emission model with a multi-scale air quality model. Our modelling system allows estimating the effect of different traffic restrictions upon traffic and the associated emissions and air quality levels at a very high resolution (20 m). The measures were evaluated both individually and collectively to assess both their relative and overall impact upon emissions and air quality. We show that in the absence of traffic demand reductions, the application of isolated measures that reduce private vehicle space, either through superblocks or tactical urban planning, have no overall emission impacts; only localized street-level NOx positive and negative changes (±17%) are found due to traffic re-routing and the generation of new bottlenecks. It is only when these measures are combined with optimistic fleet renewal as a result of the LEZ implementation and demand reductions, that relevant global emission reductions in NOx are obtained (-13% and -30%, respectively) with estimated NO2 reductions of -36% and -23% at the two traffic air quality monitoring stations. Despite the potential improvements, our simulations suggest that current measures are insufficient to comply with EU air quality standards and that further traffic restriction policies to reduce traffic demand are needed., The authors acknowledge CARNET-The Future Mobility Research HUB to allow the usage and work on the BCN-VML network, as well as PTV VISUM for the traffic software license. The author thankfully acknowledges the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support pro- vided by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (PRACE, AECT-2020-1-0007, AECT-2021-1-0027). The authors also acknowledge the support from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) as part of the BROWNING project RTI2018-099894-B-I00 and NUTRIENT project CGL2017-88911-R and the support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) as part of the VITALISE project (PID2019-108086RA- I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). Carlos Pérez García-Pando acknowl- edges the long-term support from the AXA Chair in Sand and Dust Storms (AXA Research Fund), as well as the support received through the Ramón y Cajal programme (grant RYC-2015-18690) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

Persistent high levels of NO2 have severe health effects on population. These are often found in large urban conurbations with high vehicle densities. In Barcelona, with one of the highest vehicle densities in Europe, the two traffic air quality monitoring stations are continuously exceeding the limit values established by the 2008/50/EC Ambient Air Quality Directive. To reduce traffic emissions and associated air pollution levels, Barcelona is applying a series of traffic restrictions that attempt to renew and reduce the amount of circulating vehicles within the city. These include the reduction of private vehicle space in specific areas or urban corridors of the city (superblocks and tactical urbanism) and the implementation of a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) that restricts the entrance of most polluting vehicles in the city. In order to quantify and evaluate the level of effectiveness of the applied restrictions, air quality modelling is presented as a necessary tool to complement the information provided by the air quality monitoring stations. In this sense, the present thesis evaluates the impact that the different restrictions have on the resulting NOx emissions and NO2 concentration levels in Barcelona. To accomplish that, we developed an integrated air quality system composed by the VISUM traffic simulator, the emission model HERMESv3 and the street-scale dispersion model CALIOPE-Urban, which integrates the mesoscale CALIOPE air quality forecast system and the Gaussian dispersion model R-LINE. The thesis first explains the coupling, calibration and validation process of the traffic-emission system. This is followed by an emission sensitivity analysis of typically high uncertainty emission features such as different approaches in regard of vehicle fleet composition, public bus transport implementation, temperature effect or the application of non-exhaust PM sources. We also explore the limitations of the developed macroscopic system by comparing it with a microscop, La persistente acumulación de altos valores de NO2 presenta serios problemas de salud. Esto ocurre con frecuencia en grandes zonas urbanas con altas densidades de tráfico. En Barcelona, con una de las mayores densidades de vehículos de Europa, las dos estaciones monitoreo de calidad del aire de tráfico exceden de forma continuada los valores limite establecidos por la 2008/50/EC Ambient Air Quality Directive. Para reducir las emisiones de tráfico Barcelona esta aplicando una serie de restricciones al tráfico con el propósito de renovar y reducir la cantidad de vehículos circulante. Estas medidas incluyen la reducción de espacio al vehículo privado en áreas específicas o en corredores de la ciudad (Supermanzanas o urbanismo táctico) y la implementación de una Zona de Bajas Emisiones (ZBE) que restringe la entrada a los vehículos mas contaminantes. Para cuantificar y evaluar el nivel de eficacia de las restricciones mencionadas, la modelización de calidad del aire se presenta como una herramienta necesaria para complementar la información dada por las estaciones de monitoreo de calidad del aire. Esta tesis evalúa el impacto que las diferentes restricciones tienen en los valores de emisión de NOx y de concentración de NO2 en Barcelona. Para ello, hemos desarrollado un sistema de calidad del aire compuesto por el simulador de tráfico VISUM, el modelo de emisiones HERMESv3 y el modelo de dispersión urbana CALIOPE-Urban, que integra el sistema mesoescalar de calidad del aire CALIOPE y el sistema Gaussiano de dispersión R-LINE. En la tesis se detalla el acoplamiento y el proceso de calibración y validación del sistema de tráfico-emisiones. A continuación, se realiza un estudio de sensibilidad valorando diferentes aproximaciones de variables de alta incertidumbre para la estimación de emisiones tales como la composición vehicular, la implementación del transporte público, el efecto de la temperatura o la consideración de fuentes PM no provenientes del gas de escape. También, Postprint (published version)