Detecção De Cistos De Giardia Spp. E Oocistos De Cryptosporidium Spp. Na água Bruta Das Estações De Tratamento No Município De Blumenau, Sc, Brasil

Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. are water-borne pathogenic protozoans spread through fecal-oral transmission which cause several health problems, to include gastrointestinal diseases associated with the consumption of contaminated water. There are limited data regarding the occurrence of these protozoans in surface waters in southern Brazil. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the presence of cysts and oocysts in untreated water collected from water treatment plants in Blumenau, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The methodology employed to study the protozoans was filtration through mixed cellulose ester membranes followed by the immunofluorescence reaction using the Merifluor® kit. Microbiological analysis was conducted using the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and multi-parameter probes were used for the physico-chemical analysis. Cysts of Giardia spp. were found in 23.19% of the samples and oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. in 7.24% of the samples (n=67). All of the samples analyzed were contaminated with Escherichia coli and 11.76% of the untreated water samples had turbidity values higher than the recommended limit. In the case of the treated water samples, 23.52% had turbidity values above the limit established by legislation (Portaria MS 2914/2011). The detection of pathogenic protozoans in the untreated water at the treatment plants highlights the importance of adopting preventative measures, such as the protection of areas where water is present and adequate treatment of domestic sewage, in order to reducing the risk of protozoan transmission via potable water. © 2016, Institute for Environmental Research in Hydrographic Basins (IPABHi). All rights reserved.11368970

Thermal Infrared Imaging Experiments of C-Type Asteroid 162173 Ryugu on Hayabusa2

The thermal infrared imager TIR onboard Hayabusa2 has been developed to investigate thermo-physical properties of C-type, near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu. TIR is one of the remote science instruments on Hayabusa2 designed to understand the nature of a volatile-rich solar system small body, but it also has significant mission objectives to provide information on surface physical properties and conditions for sampling site selection as well as the assessment of safe landing operations. TIR is based on a two-dimensional uncooled micro-bolometer array inherited from the Longwave Infrared Camera LIR on Akatsuki (Fukuhara et al., 2011). TIR takes images of thermal infrared emission in 8 to 12 μm with a field of view of 16×12∘ and a spatial resolution of 0.05∘ per pixel. TIR covers the temperature range from 150 to 460 K, including the well calibrated range from 230 to 420 K. Temperature accuracy is within 2 K or better for summed images, and the relative accuracy or noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) at each of pixels is 0.4 K or lower for the well-calibrated temperature range. TIR takes a couple of images with shutter open and closed, the corresponding dark frame, and provides a true thermal image by dark frame subtraction. Data processing involves summation of multiple images, image processing including the StarPixel compression (Hihara et al., 2014), and transfer to the data recorder in the spacecraft digital electronics (DE). We report the scientific and mission objectives of TIR, the requirements and constraints for the instrument specifications, the designed instrumentation and the pre-flight and in-flight performances of TIR, as well as its observation plan during the Hayabusa2 mission

An Autonomous Lunar Geophysical Experiment Package (ALGEP) for future space missions

Geophysical observations will provide key information about the inner structure of the planets and satellites and understanding the internal structure is a strong constraint on the bulk composition and thermal evolution of these bodies. Thus, geophysical observations are a key to uncovering the origin and evolution of the Moon. In this article, we propose the development of an autonomous lunar geophysical experiment package, composed of a suite of instruments and a central station with standardized interface, which can be installed on various future lunar missions. By fixing the interface between instruments and the central station, it would be possible to easily configure an appropriate experiment package for different missions. We describe here a series of geophysical instruments that may be included as part of the geophysical package: a seismometer, a magnetometer, a heat flow probe, and a laser reflector. These instruments will provide mechanical, thermal, and geodetic parameters of the Moon that are strongly related to the internal structure. We discuss the functionality required for future geophysical observations of the Moon, including the development of the central station that will be used commonly by different payloads

High Heat Flux on Ancient Mars: Evidence from Rift Flank Uplift at Coracis Fossae

We have identified flexural uplift at the flanks of the Coracis Fossae Rift valley. Modeling the topography the elastic thickness is constrained to 10.3–12.5 km, the corresponding mechanical thickness and thermal gradient are 15–19 km and 27–33 K km−1, respectively. The time of rifting is dated by evaluating the crater size-frequency distribution of key surface units related to the rifting. Thus, the heat flux between 3.5 and 3.9 Ga is calculated to be 54–66 mW m−2. Furthermore, the stresses supported by the rift bounding faults are estimated to be below 5 MPa. We speculate that this weakness may be connected to the presence of water below the surface

Mechanical modeling of thrust faults in the Thaumasia region, Mars, and implications for the Noachian heat flux

Insight into the state of the early martian lithosphere is gained by modeling the topography above surface breaking thrust faults in the southern Thaumasia region. Crater counts of key surface units associated with the faulting indicate a scarp emplacement in the late Noachian–early Hesperian periods between 4.0 and 3.7 Gyr. The seismogenic layer thickness at the time of faulting is constrained to 27–35 km and 21–28 km for the two scarps investigated, implying paleo geothermal gradients of 12–18 and 15–23 Kkm−1, corresponding to heat flows of 24–36 and 30–46 mWm−2. The heat flow values obtained in this study are considerably lower than those derived from rift flank uplift at the close-by Coracis Fossae for a similar time period, indicating that surface heat flow is a strong function of regional setting. If viewed as representative for magmatically active and inactive regions, the thermal gradients at rifts and scarps span the range of admissible global mean values. This implies dT/dz = 17–32 Kkm−1, with the true value probably being closer to the lower bound

Seasonal seismic activity on Mars

International audienc