Fertigation with domestic wastewater: Uses and implications

The use of wastewater in agriculture is an alternative means of reducing wastewater release into water sources. This process, known as fertigation is an opportunity to make use of organic matter and other nutrients in wastewater for agricultural productivity. The presence of organic matter in these effluents serves as biofertilizer. Since 19th century in Britain, fertigation had been widely accepted due to the scarcity of water, the large amount of sewage produced and the concern about the final destination of wastewater. However, salinization, contamination of soil and agricultural products with the microbial pathogens and presence of heavy metals may limit the use of wastewaters in agricultural system. Thus, the plantation of agronomic varieties that do not have direct use as human food are optional cultivars, which may not have implications of fertigation with domestic wastewater. Fertigation with wastewater will be a nutritive support for the cultivation of Brachiaria brizantha cv Marandu in cerrado soil that is considered as low fertility soil. Soil microorganisms are fertility indicators. For example, nitrogen fixing bacteria (NFB) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has great potential to assist in the development of plant varieties under irrigation with domestic wastewater. These microorganisms are good parameters to be used in the analysis of changes that occur when sewage is applied into the soil. Furthermore, microbes contribute to the structuring of the soil, degradation of organic matter and nutrient availability to the biotic component of soil. Despite the limitations of fertigation with domestic sewage, it is a great alternative to use wastewater for nutritional enrichment to the soil that will be used for planting of agricultural crops of commercial interest.Key words: Brachiaria brizantha, agriculture, salinization, diazotrophic bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi

Plastics Polymers Degradation by Fungi

The studies on plastic degradation are very important for the development of biodegradable plastics, and for reduction of pollution, since plastic waste can remain in the environment for decades or centuries. We have showed the degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastic bags and green polyethylene by Pleurotus ostreatus. This fungus can also produce mushrooms using these plastics. The plastic degradation was possibly by three reasons: (a) presence of pro-oxidant ions or plant polymer, (b) low specificity of the lignocellulolytic enzymes, and (c) the presence of endomycotic nitrogen-fixing microorganisms. In this chapter, the plastic bags’ degradation by abiotic and microbial process using the exposure to sunlight and the use of a white-rot fungus will described. The physical, chemical, and biological alterations of plastic were analyzed after each process of degradation. The degradation of plastic bags was more effective when the abiotic and biotic degradations were combined

Enrichment of mushrooms: an interesting strategy for the acquisition of lithium

The capability of Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom to accumulate lithium (Li) and the accessibility of this Li compared with lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), often used as psychiatric medicine, were investigated. Mushrooms were produced on a substrate-based on coffee husk, with different added concentrations of lithium chloride (LiCl). Biological efficiency (BE), the crude protein content, the concentration of Li and other elements present in mushrooms were determined. The sequential extraction and in vitro test were used to verify the accessibility and the degree of solubility of this element. Li concentration in mushrooms was directly influenced by increasing LiCl concentration in the substrate (P < 0.05). The BE was not affected by different concentrations of LiCl. Li present in enriched mushrooms showed greater accessibility than in Li2CO3. Therefore, P. ostreatus mushrooms, enriched with lithium can be an alternative source of Li, as well as being a food with high nutritional value

Spray drying of the buriti pulp at different maltodextrin concentrations and temperature

In this work, the formulations prepared with buriti pulp and different maltodextrin concentrations (5, 10 and 15%) were dried in spray dryer and the chemical, physical and physical-chemical characteristics of the formulations and powder samples were evaluated. In this drying process two kinds of powder samples were collected: one into drying chamber and another in the cyclone. Using a factorial experimental planning, the experiments were conducted, in order to assess the moisture and ash contents, total acidity and density of both samples. The formulations dried in the spray dryer presented be feasible for the production of buriti pulp powder; however, powder samples collected into drying chamber and cyclone were different. Among the parameters analysed, it was found that only for density the samples collected into drying chamber, that the first-order empirical model obtained was statistically significant and predictive

Implementation of Internal Quality Control in Clinical Laboratories of Portuguese Speaking Countries

ProMeQuaLab (Laboratory Quality Improvement Project for Portuguese Speaking Countries) is an ongoing project started in 2015 aiming to improve the quality of laboratory results in Portuguese Speaking countries ( It focuses on training in laboratory quality control, implementation and monitoring of quality indicators, and the organisation of a biennial congress. In 2023 within the scope of ProMeQuaLab and in collaboration with the National Health Institute Doctor Ricardo Jorge ( and the Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Lisbon, the Master's thesis "Development of tools and documentation for implementation of laboratory Quality Control in Portuguese Speaking countries" is being carried out. AIMS: Development and application tools for implementation of Internal Quality Control in the areas of Clinical Chemistry and Haematology, in PLP laboratories, from February to August 2023info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

AUTOMATIC METHOD FOR GLAUCOMA CLASSIFICATION USING TEXTURE ANALYSIS, XGBOOST AND GRID SEARCH

Glaucoma is an irreversible pathology, generated by increased intraocular pressure. Early detection is critical and can pre- vent total vision loss. Clinical examinations are commonly used to detect the disease. Still, the time and cost of identi- fication is quite high. This paper presents a computational methodology that aims to assist specialists in the discov- ery of glaucoma through Computer Vision techniques. The proposed methodology consists in the application of several texture descriptors combined with a parameter optimiza- tion done through Grid search with the XGBoost classifier. A result was obtained with accuracy of 82.37% and ROC of 82.08%

Implicações da dislexia no processo de ensino/aprendizagem / Implications of dyslexia in the teaching/learning process

A evasão escolar é uma questão latente na realidade da educação e muitos são os fatores que contribuem para isso. Objetiva-se fazer com que os educadores se apropriem do que é a dislexia e o que essa deficiência pode provocar durante o processo de ensino/aprendizagem. O artigo visa descrever essa dificuldade de aprendizagem que nem sempre é percebida a diferença em relação de causa e efeito entre a dislexia e o baixo rendimento dos alunos. Partiu-se da ideia de que o professor que atua com discentes com dificuldade de aprendizagem, precisa ter conhecimento acerca dos disléxicos, seus diagnósticos e prognósticos, para a concretização de um processo de ensino e aprendizagem eficiente. Pretende-se buscar estratégias que minimizem os efeitos da dislexia no processo ensino/aprendizagem. Utilizou-se como referencial teórico os seguintes autores: Alioto e Prado (2011); Capovilla (2004); Ciasca (2003); Davis (2004); Fernandes e Penha (2008); Figueredo (2009), dentre outros. A temática da dislexia é relevante para o campo da educação e educação especial/inclusiva, da psicologia e para a sociedade de modo geral, pois contribui para conscientização de que o aluno com dislexia não deve ser rotulado como um indivíduo incapaz de aprender, mas que possui dificuldade de aprendizagem, necessitando de adaptação às suas condições e limitações.  A pesquisa é bibliográfica. Espera-se que o artigo possa contribuir para o campo da educação especial/inclusiva no tocante à dislexia e sua relação com a comunidade escolar. 

Tensile behavior analysis combined with digital image correlation and mechanical and thermal properties of microfibrillated cellulose fiber/ polylactic acid composites

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) employed as reinforcement of polymeric matrices can increase elastic modulus, stiffness and strength of a composite. In this work, the assessment of the mechanical, thermal properties and tensile tests assisted by digital image correlation (DIC) was performed for curaua fiber MFC-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites as a function of MCF content. First, MFC was incorporated into PLA using a solvent exchange technique and subsequent polymer solubilization to produce master batch composites. Then, more PLA was added to obtain composites with 0.5 and 1.5 wt% MFC by using double screw extrusion and injection molding. As a result, the addition of MFC caused the flexural, tensile, indentation, impact and modulus strengths to increase compared to those of pure PLA. The deformation gradient obtained from DIC verified that the 0.5 wt % MFC/PLA composite presented greater homogeneity in relation to load dispersion, corroborating the higher rigidity, maximum stress, and Poisson’s ratio