In this paper, inorganic silica microspheres with interconnected macroporosity are tested as a platform for designing robust and efficient photocatalytic systems for a continuous flow reactor, enabling a low cost and straightforward purification of wastewater through solar‐driven photocatalysis. The photocatalytically active microspheres are prepared by wet impregnation of porous silica scaffolds with Trizma‐functionalized anatase titania (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles (NPs). NPs loading of 22 wt% is obtained in the form of a thin and well‐attached layer, covering the external surface of the microspheres as well as the internal surface of the pores. The TiO 2 loading leads to an increase of the specific surface area by 26%, without impacting the typically interconnected macroporosity ( ≈ 60%) of the microspheres, which is essential for an efficient flow of the pollutant solution during the photocatalytic tests. These are carried out in a liquid medium for the decomposition of methyl orange and paracetamol. In addition to photocatalytic activity under continuous flow, the microspheres offer the advantage that they can be easily removed from the reaction medium, which is an appealing aspect for industrial applications. In this work, the typical issues of TiO 2 NPs photocatalysts are circumvented, without the need for elaborate chemistries, and for low availability and expensive raw materials.

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Today, it is well stablished that there is a need to reduce energetic consumption among different human activities and also in buildings; the rhythm of today's waste is no longer acceptable for the planet in terms of sustainability.The degree of comfort to which we have get used to, and to which society does not seem to renounce, places in the focus of the problem. Comfort is a very wide concept that includes the perception of multiple ambient parameters, but in relation to the problems exposed, we will focus on higrothermal and daylight approaches. In that sense, architects cannot ignore this reality, so it is appropriate to deal with it since the very beginning of the architectural project from a holistic point of view. Mostly, when recent researches demonstrate that the decisions taken in the early design phases have influence over the 80% of the building's energy performance.Spanning from the Renaissance to nowadays, along three centuries, the modern era comprises a period with huge human development. Even though, it has two common parameters in cultural terms; it has been -and still is-a culture of projects and it is also steeped in the hegemony of visual.The prevailing oculocentrism turns image and objects, as a consumer product perceived through the eye, the focus of design parameters. Architecture, whether as a result or a contextual engine, has not been foreign to these two realities. Only departing from the avant-garde movements of the past century, it is possible to find examples of intentional sensibility towards the environment and other less material issues, for instance comfort, especially in the second generation of the fifties and the sixties.With the growing use of "fenomenology" and "hapticity" when describing inhabited environments, new variables come into play. Architects, acting as planners conceiving the places where people live, have not been able to introduce these matters in everyday tasks. All that we perceive through our sensory channels is much more than just what we see, so it seems, that in some way, it needs to take its place in the design processes.In addition, as stated by Ortega y Gasset, the higher degree of technification of the milieu appears to have led us to a thoughtless and empty adaptation of the system of instrumental rationality. The trust in technology as the only way to solve human problems is an argument that is losing strength with the passing of the 21 st century.Peter Collins believed that the study of how people built in the past is completely different to the study of how they do it today yet indivisible. Based on this approach and taking into account all said before, Le Corbusier's architectural project is studied from the higrothermal and sensory perspective, as well as the Grille Climatique, tool developed in his atelier at the early fifties to control these areas.The techniques available at our time -analysis, simulation, monitoring and user perception -are used to demonstrate the system adequacy and possible future applications. Conclusions will be drawn t...

RESUMOEste trabalho pretende analisar a progressão de indicadores sociais no Paraná a partir dos anos 1990, utilizando como base de dados os indicadores sociais de Educação, Emprego e Renda, Saúde e Saneamento, disponibilizados pelo Instituto Paranaense de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social -IPARDES. Para o desdobramento de tal reflexão, será resgatado brevemente o desenvolvimento econômico Brasileiro, cujo projeto de Estado está embasado no que se conhece por novo desenvolvimentismo. Do mesmo modo, também será abordada a possibilidade de serem utilizados indicadores sociais públicos e gratuitos, a fim de que os mesmos auxiliem nos procedimentos de análise e problematização de questões sociais que interessam às Ciências Sociais, utilizando-se como exemplo os dados que serão apresentados.Palavras-chave: Indicador. Paraná. Ipardes. Novo desenvolvimentismo.

Investigation of floodwave propagation over natural bathymetry using a three-dimensional numerical model." PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, 2017.