Abstract
Rehabilitation, restoration and maintenance of monuments, heritage and buildings pose challenging tasks to engineers and architects, as any intervention must respect their architectural and constructive characteristics. Often these are unknown and sources of information have long been lost in time. Thus, there is a need to use methods capable of providing information on a wide range of aspects such as building foundations, construction characteristics and materials, alterations from the original layout, infrastructure mapping, pathologies, etc. These methods must respect the inherent structural delicacy and characteristics of ancient buildings and non-destructive methods, NDT such as geophysical methods, have been proposed to investigate these problems. It is common knowledge that a single geophysical method cannot provide full information on the problems to investigate. Thus, herein the combined use of Seismic Transmission Tomography and Ground Penetrating Radar - GPR - is demonstrated to provide important results in the investigation of the constructive elements (columns and walls) of a 14th century UNESCO monument. As demonstrated, high-resolution geophysical data obtained from both methods provide very good images of the interior of both walls and columns giving information on the quality and spatial distribution of the materials used in the construction of the monument. Finally, the results herein discussed prove the suitability and complementarity of these two methods to investigate, built heritage, monuments and buildings in general.

Abstract
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in multifilament and braided yarns (BY) forms presents great potential for the design of numerous applications. However, such solutions fail to accomplish their requirements if the chemical and thermomechanical behaviour is not sufficiently known. Hence, a comprehensive characterisation of PVA multifilament and three BY architectures (6, 8, and 10 yarns) was performed involving the application of several techniques to evaluate the morphological, chemical, thermal, and mechanical features of those structures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to reveal structural and morphological information. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) pointed out the glass transition temperature of PVA at 76 & DEG;C and the corresponding crystalline melting point at 210 & DEG;C. PVA BY exhibited higher tensile strength under monotonic quasi-static loading in comparison to their multifilament forms. Creep tests demonstrated that 6BY structures present the most deformable behaviour, while 8BY structures are the least deformable. Relaxation tests showed that 8BY architecture presents a more expressive variation of tensile stress, while 10BY offered the least. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed storage and loss moduli curves with similar transition peaks for the tested structures, except for the 10BY. Storage modulus is always four to six times higher than the loss modulus.

Abstract
Estuaries have the particularity of being in constant change concerning the salinity of the water, since the river carries fresh water to the mouth, while the force of the tide pushes salty water upstream, reaching several kilometers upstream given the right conditions. These bodies of water do not mix instantly, allowing the appearance of a distinct border between the two, known as the front. This document presents a monitoring system composed of four-probe salinity sensors, which acquire conductivity, temperature, and pressure data to calculate salinity, arranged in such a way as to make measurements along the water column, to detect the shape of the front, as well as monitoring the estuary. The sensors, and the monitoring system in general, are cost-effective, low-power, and accurate in long-term deployment, even when installed in adverse conditions such as at sea. The sensors consume $26 \mu \mathrm{A}$ in sleep mode and 10 mA during measurement, and the measurement time is less than 100 ms. The choice of a four-point configuration allows overcoming the inevitable decay of the electrodes and possible measurement errors, contributing to autonomous long-term operation.

Abstract
The present work shows the development of a linear electromagnetic generator (LEG) for applications in marine and fluvial sensors. The LEG was submitted to tests with small oscillating frequencies of 0.1-0.4 Hz, and the output power obtained for these frequencies has allowed to supply energy to at least 6 sensors with a total consumed power of 5.76mW or to charge the batteries when the sensors are in a sleep mode. As a result, it is possible to extend the operation time and reduce the logistic costs for sea or river sensors applications, by using the proposed micro underwater generator.

Abstract

Abstract
In this work, different weight contents of as-grown carbon nanofibers (CNFs), produced by chemical vapor deposition, were melt-extruded with polypropylene (PP) and their morphologic, structure and dielectric properties examined. The morphologic analysis reveals that the CNFs are randomly distributed in the form of agglomerates within the PP matrix, whereas the structural results depicted by Raman analysis suggest that the degree of disorder of the as-received CNFs was not affected in the PP/CNF composites. The AC conductivity of PP/CNF composites at room temperature evidenced an insulator-conductor transition in the vicinity of 2 wt.%, corresponding to a remarkable rise of the dielectric permittivity up to similar to 12 at 400 Hz, with respect to the neat PP (similar to 2.5). Accordingly, the AC conductivity and dielectric permittivity of PP/CNF 2 wt.% composites were evaluated by using power laws and discussed in the framework of the intercluster polarization model. Finally, the complex impedance and Nyquist plots of the PP/CNF composites are analyzed by using equivalent circuit models, consisting of a constant phase element (CPE). The analysis gathered in here aims at contributing to the better understanding of the enhanced dielectric properties of low-conducting polymer composites filled with carbon nanofibers.