Abstract
The National Emission Ceilings Directive 2001/81/CE (NEC Directive) was adopted in the European Community in 2001 and went through a revision process in 2005. One of its main objectives is to improve the protection of the environment and human health against the risks of adverse effects from ground-level ozone, moving towards the long-term objective of not exceeding critical levels proved to effectively protect the populations and ecosystems. Considering such objectives, national emission ceilings were established imposing the years 2010 and 2020 as benchmarks. Ten years later, what was the effectiveness of this Directive concerning the control of tropospheric ozone levels in Portugal? In order to answer the previous question, annual ozone precursors' emissions (NOx, NMVOC) and annual atmospheric concentrations (NOx and O-3) were analyzed between 1990 and 2011. The background concentrations were assessed in each environment type of air quality station (urban, suburban and rural) through their annual mean ozone concentration and the hourly information threshold exceedances (episodic peak levels). To evaluate the statistical differences in the inter-annual episodic peak levels, a Peak Ozone Index (POIx) was defined and calculated. The results show that, despite the achievement on the emissions NEC Directive goals, associated to the reduction of ozone precursors' emissions, and the decrease of ozone episodic peak levels, the mean tropospheric ozone concentrations significantly increased between 2003 and 2007 (p < 0.05) although the number of exceedances to the information threshold (180 mu g m(-3)) has decreased. During the period of 1990-2000, before the implementation of the NEC Directive, the mean ozone values were 25% lower in rural stations, 26% in urban stations and 12% in suburban stations, demonstrating that the NEC policy based on NOx and NMVOCs emissions reduction does not lead to an effective overall reduction of ozone concentrations considering the reduction on these pollutants independently. Indeed, the mesoscale ozone production and/or the long range advection may play also an important role as the analysis of Mace Head ozone concentrations suggests. Above all, and due to its non-linear interactions in the ozone chemical balance, the NEC directive should impose emissions' reduction respecting the NOx/NMVOC ratio instead of consider it as a mere guideline value. The mesoscale photochemical ozone production should be carefully analyzed under the new policies, namely in coastal countries like Portugal where the mesoscale circulations play a crucial role in this type of phenomena.

Abstract
Recently, roundabouts in a series have been installed along corridors to enhance road safety. However, the benefits of this traffic-calming technique on traffic performance and pollutant emissions compared with other forms of intersections, such as traffic lights and stop-controlled solutions, are not properly known. This study used a microscopic approach to evaluate the effects of a corridor with four roundabouts on traffic performance and emissions, in comparison with traffic lights and stop-controlled solutions. Average travel time and number of vehicle stops were used as measures of traffic performance; carbon dioxide, monoxide carbon, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter were used to quantify emissions. The traffic and emissions performance of each solution was evaluated on three levels: (a) arterial, (b) intersection, and (c) morning peak versus evening peak periods. It was found that, regardless of the time period, traffic lights in corridors at the arterial level produced higher total emissions (> 6%), while stop-controlled intersections produced lower emissions (approximate to 12%) compared with roundabouts, mainly because of unbalanced traffic flows between main and minor roads. The results for traffic performance showed advantages in implementing roundabouts when the main concern was the number of vehicle stops. At the intersection level, an emissions improvement (between 2% and 14%) was observed at traffic lights on four-leg intersections.

Abstract
In this paper the environmental impacts of fuel and toll pricing policies were evaluated for eight Portuguese motorways for the period between 2008 and 2011. To perform such study, firstly the analysis of the elasticity was done to assess the sensitive of traffic demand. Then emission costs were estimated considering an integrated approach of environmental and human health impacts. Two motorway groups were analyzed: one originally built with both conventional and electronic toll systems (G1); and another recently equipped with non-stop electronic tolls (G2). The results show that the elasticity of the system changes with the fluctuation prices, particularly influenced by toll prices variation. During the analysis period, traffic volumes decreased (8-11% in G1, and 15-41% in G2). About 75% of traffic flow shows a high statistical significance correlation (p < 0.05) with toll prices, which highlight the impact of toll prices. Differences between emission costs can be close to 50% in those motorway groups. Nevertheless, due the absence of data in alternative routes, the obtained results show only the potential maximum environmental gains of these policies in motorways. This limitation is very important in the quantification of the environmental global impacts. Non-toll roads are usually characterized by slower speeds and higher emissions. Therefore the above mentioned gains can be converted, in these cases, in losses. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract
In the last decades, traffic microsimulation platforms have a growing complexity allowing a detailed description of vehicle traffic dynamics in a second-by-second basis. However, to project spatially their outputs, some precautions must be followed. Therefore, we analyze some variables used in the microscopic traffic models which have a high impact on further applications, especially when a spatial projection is required. To assess these objectives, a microsimulation framework which includes traffic and emission models was defined to characterize traffic flows and to evaluate vehicular emissions. This general methodology was then applied in a European medium sized city using two scenarios: (i) considering a Lagrangian approach and (ii) using an Eulerian approach of the simulation road traffic platform. The Lagrangian approach shows that if we have long links (some hundred meters, e.g. >500 m), we lose the spatial detail on emissions. On the other hand, using the Eulerian approach to define very small links (some few meters, e.g. <30 m), a significant statistic representation of traffic dynamics, in that link, was not obtained, particularly in areas with low traffic flow. The latter situation can occur because the vehicle speed can be high enough that did not allow recording any information in that link, even considering a high time resolution analysis (second-by-second). Thus, a non-linear trend of the error is identified when such data are analyzed geographically. Accordingly, depending on the use of those microsimulation tools, we identify some best practices related with the traffic model design that must be followed to minimize those errors.

Abstract
Midblock pedestrian crossing areas between closely spaced roundabouts can affect traffic operations and may result in a trade-off between capacity, environment, and safety benefits. Even though research has been conducted on the impacts of traffic performance on pedestrian crosswalks located at isolated roundabouts, few studies have focused on how pedestrian crosswalks between closely adjacent roundabouts affect traffic operations. A microsimulation approach was used to examine the integrated effect of a pedestrian crosswalk on traffic delay, carbon dioxide emissions, and relative speed between vehicles and pedestrians at different locations between closely spaced two-lane roundabouts. The main purpose of the study was to develop a simulation platform of traffic (VISSIM), emissions (vehicle-specific power), and safety (surrogate safety assessment model) to optimize such variables. The fast nondominated sorting genetic algorithm NSGA-II was mobilized to identify an optimized set of pedestrian crosswalk locations for the roundabout exit section along the midblock segment. One acceptable solution that provided a good balance between traffic performance, emissions, and pedestrian safety benefits was locating the crosswalks at 15, 20, and 30 m from the exit section. Even at low pedestrian demand, crosswalk effectiveness (as determined by capacity and environment) gradually decreased near the circulatory ring delimitation (<10 m). Findings suggest that crosswalks in the midblock segment (55 to 60 m from the exit section) also must be considered, especially under high traffic demand.

Abstract
The present invention is directed to manufacturing, wherein each component of the outsourced process and system can be remotely controlled in decentralized manufacturing process, integrating resources and stakeholders in a global chain, that utilizes ubiquitous computing systems virtual and networked enterprises concepts, for anywhere-anytime control. Experiment involved 68 subjects, Serbian students that have used the interface for remote collaborative control to control CNC machine located in Portugal. Usability evaluation measures of the distributed remote user controlled manufacturing system, such as percentage of task completed, its accuracy and time to complete task, are measured on two types of "client" user interface ("Wall" and "Window"), in two modes of presentation (desktop and video beam), working individually or in small collaborative group consisted of two persons, results were statistically tested. Percentage of task completed is equal for both types of interfaces, while accuracy of task is significantly better for "Wall" interface. Time of task execution is longer for individuals when desktop is used comparing to video beam. There exist significant differences when work is conducted in groups via video beam and time is longer when desktop is used. Also, work time is longer with "Wall" interface. When working in group, work time is shorter than the time when working individually, whereby the working time on desktop is longer than on the video beam. Also, the time is longer when working individually using video beam, using "Wall" interface on desktop, and "Window" interface on video beam. These results show that group work consumes less time in most working options, giving the best results when working in collaborative small group on "Wall" interface via video beam. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.