A Method for Environmental Data Management Applied to Megasites in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The management of contaminated areas with multiple sources of contamination (megasites) is among the biggest challenges for the Brazilian environmental agencies, especially because aquifers in big urban areas, like the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region, are important sources of water for human supply purposes. One of the main reasons that hamper the proper management of urban environmental problems is a lack of a unified system where all information can be easily integrated into regional studies. To address this problem, a method for data integration and management using a Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed. This method was applied to the case of a regional contamination of an aquifer by chlorinated solvents at a former industrial district in Sao Paulo city, named Jurubatuba, but the final product might also be used for data management of contaminated areas for the entire State of Sao Paulo. The main result obtained was that the site-by-site approach for aquifer contamination management is ineffective. Furthermore, there are many other suspected and potential sources of contamination without any information available after more than 10 years since the contamination problem was discovered at the FIZ 131.

Determination and Removal of Endocrine Disruptors in Wastewater by Activated Carbon

This study aimed to evaluate the EDC （endocrine disruptors compounds） in the city of Sao Paulo＇s water sources, from samples collected at predetermined sampling points and to evaluate the adsorptive capacity of these compounds in different types of activated carbon. The effects of these EDC on humans are not well established due to the necessary large exposure time for the effect＇s manifestation. After tests using powdered and granular activated carbon, all samples were filtered under vacuum using cellulose acetate membrane （0.45 μm） to remove eventual impurities, and posteriorly carded out the solid-phase extraction SPE （solid-phase extraction） and chromatographic analysis. The results lead to the conclusion that both powdered activated carbon have removal effectiveness of these compounds by adsorption. Furthermore, great amount of endocrine disruptors were found at several sampling points in river and city＇s water reservoirs, which shows different levels of pollution of water sources, some of them responsible for the watersupply of the city of Silo Paulo, Brazil.

Effect of Chronic Supplementation with L-Arginine on the Expression of Proteins that Regulate Muscle Protein Synthesis in Rats Trained in High-Intensity Exercise

Arginine is a conditionally essential amino acid that has been correlated with muscle protein synthesis. In order to investigate the effect of chronic supplementation of L-arginine on muscle protein synthesis via mTOR （mammalian target of rapamycin）, and contribute to the new scientific discussions on this amino acid in this context, adult male Wistar rats weighing about 200 g each were used, divided into four groups： TA （trained arginine）, SA （sedentary arginine）, CT （diet-control trained）, and CS （diet-control sedentary）. The diets were based on proposal A1N-93 （American Institute of Nutrition-1993）, in which one of them was enriched with 2% of arginine and the other with a mix of nonessential amino acids. Training of the animals consisted of sessions composed of four series of 10 jumps in a tank of water. Jumps were performed with a load of 50% of animals＇ body weight, five days a week for six weeks. Blood analyses done were insulin, glucose, amino acids, IGF-1 （insulin-like growth factor 1）, 1GFBP-3 （insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3）, urea, and creatinine, as well as muscle and liver IGF-1. Molecular analyses were for IRS-1 （insulin receptor substrate 1）, PKB （protein kinase B）, also known as Akt, roTOR, 4E-BP1 （eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1） and p70S6K （p70 S6 kinase） by Western Blotting method. As a result, no statistically significant differences were found in the parameters evaluated except for creatinine, which was higher for the groups supplemented with arginine.

Proposal for a Future Internet Business Model and Regulatory Acts in a Technological Convergence Environment Supporting Continuity of QoS

The communications development requires interaction between converging heterogeneous technology environment, with quality and continuity of services to remain competitive. The full implementation of the Future Internet concept implies in the necessity to operate among heterogeneous technology platforms with continuity of QoS (Quality of Service), what leads to the necessity of an innovative business model to support it and new technical mechanisms of vertical handover to ensure the QoS continuity required and expected by final users but, mainly, perceived by them. An innovative business model that requires innovative QoS continuity mechanisms must consider technical and commercial interoperation among many telecommunication services providers, nationally and internationally based. This interaction demands clear rules to be followed by every player along the telecommunication services chain,i.e., it demands a set of regulation acts to guide them and allow their viability.

Biochar insights from laboratory incubations monitoring O_(2) consumption and CO_(2) production

Biochar has been touted as a long-term carbon sequestration tool.However,there are no studies evaluating biochar’s effect on oxygen(O_(2))consumption as a measure of the microbial respiration response to biochar.To gain insight into this aspect,we evaluated O_(2) consumption rates to test the hypothesis that biochar is an efficient agent for carbon dioxide(CO_(2))sequestration in soils.Four different biochar types and one activated charcoal were incubated alone and associated with three different soils for approximately 2 months in laboratory incubations.Headspace concentration of CO_(2) and O_(2) was periodically quantified.The data presented here confirm that the CO_(2) production following biochar’s addition to soils results in a process that is correlated to oxygen consumption.However,this overall stimulation is not clearly related to biochar type.Activated carbon resulted in the highest statistically significant stimulation of activity,despite it possessing the lowest quantity of volatile carbon and mineral nutrient sources.Taking into consideration our results,we conclude that using biochar does achieve total carbon sequestration.However,the amount of available soil organic carbon following soil incorporation appears to be reduced following biochar addition and its long-term implication on this mineralizable soil organic carbon pool does deserve more research attention.