ANÁLISE DAS PERDAS NOS SISTEMAS DE ABASTECIMENTO DE ÁGUA NOS MUNICÍPIOS DO MATO GROSSO DO SUL

The analysis of losses in water supply systems is a topic that has become increasingly relevant and necessary, with a highlight to the water resources management aspects, in view of the sustainability and availability of water around the world. In Brazil, the waste of water in distribution systems is a serious but little studied problem at the state and municipal level. In this context, the present study aimed to analyze the indicators of losses in the water supply systems in Mato Grosso do Sul municipalities between 2011 and 2020, using the four most representative indicators from the database of the National System of Information on Sanitation (SNIS). The reference numbers of the four indicators in all municipalities in the state were evaluated by using data collected from service providers and made available by the Ministry of Cities. Results showed that the municipalities of Novo Horizonte do Sul and Japorã had an excellent performance in reducing water losses in their supply systems, indicating water resources efficient and conscious management. On the other hand, the municipalities of Corumbá and Ladário had above-average water loss rates, indicating problems in the systems management and operation, such as network leaks and illegal connections. In this sense, it is important that the municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul invest in loss control programs and constantly seek to improve the efficiency of their systems in operation.El análisis de las pérdidas en los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua es un tema que se vuelve cada vez más relevante y necesario, con énfasis en aspectos de la gestión del recurso hídrico, de cara a la sostenibilidad y disponibilidad del agua en todo el mundo. En Brasil, el desperdicio de agua en los sistemas de distribución es un problema grave, pero aún poco estudiado a nivel estatal y municipal. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar los indicadores de pérdidas en los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua en los municipios de Mato Grosso do Sul entre 2011 y 2020, utilizando los cuatro indicadores más representativos de la base de datos del Sistema Nacional de Información sobre Saneamiento (SNIS). Se evaluaron los números de referencia de los cuatro indicadores en todos los municipios del estado, utilizando datos recopilados de los proveedores de servicios y puestos a disposición por el Ministerio de las Ciudades. Los resultados mostraron que las ciudades de Novo Horizonte do Sul y Japorã tuvieron un excelente desempeño en la reducción de pérdidas de agua en sus sistemas de abastecimiento, lo que indica una gestión eficiente y consciente de los recursos hídricos. Por otro lado, las ciudades de Corumbá y Ladário presentaron índices de pérdida de agua superiores a la media, lo que indica problemas en la gestión y operación de los sistemas, como fugas en las redes y conexiones ilegales. En ese sentido, es importante que los municipios de Mato Grosso do Sul inviertan en programas de control de pérdidas y busquen constantemente mejorar la eficiencia de sus sistemas en operación.A análise das perdas nos sistemas de abastecimento de água é um tema que vem se tornando cada vez mais relevante e necessário, com destaque para os aspectos de gestão dos recursos hídricos, tendo em vista a sustentabilidade e disponibilidade de água ao redor do mundo. No Brasil, o desperdício de água em sistemas de distribuição é um problema grave, mas ainda pouco estudado em nível estadual e municipal. Neste contexto, o presente estudo objetivou analisar os indicadores de perdas nos sistemas de abastecimento de água em municípios de Mato Grosso do Sul entre 2011 e 2020, utilizando os quatro indicadores mais representativos do banco de dados do Sistema Nacional de Informações sobre Saneamento (SNIS). Foram avaliados os benchmarkings dos quatro indicadores em todos os municípios do estado, utilizando dados coletados junto aos prestadores de serviço e disponibilizados pelo Ministério das Cidades. Os resultados mostraram que os municípios de Novo Horizonte do Sul e Japorã tiveram excelente desempenho na redução das perdas de água, em todos os índices analisados, indicando uma gestão eficiente e consciente dos recursos hídricos. Por outro lado, os municípios de Corumbá e Ladário apresentaram índices de perda de água acima da média, indicando problemas na gestão e operação dos sistemas, como vazamentos nas redes e ligações clandestinas. Neste sentido, é importante que os municípios do Mato Grosso do Sul invistam em programas de controle de perdas e busquem constantemente a melhoria da eficiência dos seus sistemas em operação

A search for ultra-high-energy photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory exploiting air-shower universality

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the most sensitive detector to primary photons with energies above ∼0.2 EeV. It measures extensive air showers using a hybrid technique that combines a fluorescence detector (FD) with a ground array of particle detectors (SD). The signatures of a photon-induced air shower are a larger atmospheric depth at the shower maximum (X$_{max}$) and a steeper lateral distribution function, along with a lower number of muons with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced background. Using observables measured by the FD and SD, three photon searches in different energy bands are performed. In particular, between threshold energies of 1-10 EeV, a new analysis technique has been developed by combining the FD-based measurement of X$_{max}$ with the SD signal through a parameter related to its muon content, derived from the universality of the air showers. This technique has led to a better photon/hadron separation and, consequently, to a higher search sensitivity, resulting in a tighter upper limit than before. The outcome of this new analysis is presented here, along with previous results in the energy ranges below 1 EeV and above 10 EeV. From the data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in about 15 years of operation, the most stringent constraints on the fraction of photons in the cosmic flux are set over almost three decades in energy

Study on multi-ELVES in the Pierre Auger Observatory

Since 2013, the four sites of the Fluorescence Detector (FD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory record ELVES with a dedicated trigger. These UV light emissions are correlated to distant lightning strikes. The length of recorded traces has been increased from 100 μs (2013), to 300 μs (2014-16), to 900 μs (2017-present), to progressively extend the observation of the light emission towards the vertical of the causative lightning and beyond. A large fraction of the observed events shows double ELVES within the time window, and, in some cases, even more complex structures are observed. The nature of the multi-ELVES is not completely understood but may be related to the different types of lightning in which they are originated. For example, it is known that Narrow Bipolar Events can produce double ELVES, and Energetic In-cloud Pulses, occurring between the main negative and upper positive charge layer of clouds, can induce double and even quadruple ELVES in the ionosphere. This report shows the seasonal and daily dependence of the time gap, amplitude ratio, and correlation between the pulse widths of the peaks in a sample of 1000+ multi-ELVES events recorded during the period 2014-20. The events have been compared with data from other satellite and ground-based sensing devices to study the correlation of their properties with lightning observables such as altitude and polarity

Extraction of the Muon Signals Recorded with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory Using Recurrent Neural Networks

We present a method based on the use of Recurrent Neural Networks to extract the muon component from the time traces registered with water-Cherenkov detector (WCD) stations of the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The design of the WCDs does not allow to separate the contribution of muons to the time traces obtained from the WCDs from those of photons, electrons and positrons for all events. Separating the muon and electromagnetic components is crucial for the determination of the nature of the primary cosmic rays and properties of the hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies. We trained a neural network to extract the muon and the electromagnetic components from the WCD traces using a large set of simulated air showers, with around 450 000 simulated events. For training and evaluating the performance of the neural network, simulated events with energies between 1018.5, eV and 1020 eV and zenith angles below 60 degrees were used. We also study the performance of this method on experimental data of the Pierre Auger Observatory and show that our predicted muon lateral distributions agree with the parameterizations obtained by the AGASA collaboration

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016