Caracterização do conteúdo de fossas e tanques sépticos na cidade de Natal

Only 32% of the population of Natal is attended by sewage, while the remaining population use pits and septic tanks. The characterization of the contents of septic tanks and pits contributes to the performance of such system and may guide the decision on treatment of these contents. The main of this research is to characterize the contents of interior residential pits and septic tanks in the greater Natal, with the following specific goals: to develop and manufacture a sampler capable of collecting a representative sample of the entire column (the surface scum, the clarified liquid and sludge bottom); to compare the contents of the tanks with the pits; to compare the contents of the septage from vacuum trucks; to relate the composition content with socioeconomic characteristics of households; to compare the content in both chambers of the septic tanks in series; to assess the situation of the content before and six months after the cleanness; and ultimately propose a pilot scale plant for treatment of septage. Once the sampler was developed, samples were collected within 14 septic tanks and 10 pits in many districts of Natal. Medians of the 24 systems were obtained: temperature, pH, conductivity, oil and grease, total solids, total suspended solids and sediments of 28.0 °C, 6.95; 882 mS/cm, 75.2 mg/L; 10,169 mg/L, 6,509 mg/L and 175 mL/L respectively; 111.0 mgN/L for ammonia, 130.5 mgN/ L for organic nitrogen, 0.2 mgN/L for nitrite, 0.4 mg/L for nitrate; 8935 mgO2/L for COD, 29.2 mgP/L for total phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms from 9.95 E +06 CFU/100mL helminth eggs and 9.2 eggs/L with a maximum concentration of 688 eggs/L and minimum of 0 eggs/L. Medians of organic nitrogen and TKN were significantly different between groups of tanks and pits. The systems with cleanness gap from 11 and 20 years presented the higher concentrations for most variables. The effluent from the toilets and bathrooms participate more effectively in contributing fractions of solids, alkalinity, nitrogen, COD, total phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms and helminth eggs. The systems used by socioeconomics class with income from R$ 3,700.00 to R$ 7,600.00, presented higher concentrations for COD, nitrogen, solids and helminth eggs. The first of the two chambers had always presented higher concentrations over the second compartment. The analysis of variance for most variables, showed that the values of septic tanks, pits and septage from vacuum trucks belong to the same group. In the samples taken after cleanness, the median of pH and temperature increased, while alkalinity, COD, organic nitrogen, total phosphorus, ammonia and helminth eggs decreased. The oils and greases and thermotolerant coliforms had slightly varied due to the continuous release of sewage into the systems that maintained their steady state concentrations.

Reversible jump sampler for autoregressive time series

We use reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to address the problem of model order uncertainty in autoregressive (AR) time series within a Bayesian framework. Efficient model jumping is achieved by proposing model space moves from the full conditional density for the AR parameters, which is obtained analytically. This is compared with an alternative method, for which the moves are cheaper to compute, in which proposals are made only for new parameters in each move. Results are presented for both synthetic and audio time series.

The choice of a suitable sampler for benthic macroinvertebrates in deep rivers

Both chemical and biological methods are used to assess the water quality of rivers. Many standard physical and chemical methods are now established, but biological procedures of comparable accuracy and versatility are still lacking. This is unfortunate because the biological assessment of water quality has several advantages over physical and chemical analyses. Several groups of organisms have been used to assess water quality in rivers and these include Bacteria, Protozoa, Algae, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fish. Hellawell (1978) provides an excellent review of the advantages and disadvantages of these groups, and concludes that macroinvertebrates are the most useful for monitoring water quality. Although macroinvertebrates are relatively easy to sample in shallow water (depth < 1m), quantitative sampling poses more problems than qualitative sampling because a large number of replicate sampling units are usually required for accurate estimates of numbers or biomass per unit area. Both qualitative and quantitative sampling are difficult in deep water (depth > 1m). The present paper first considers different types of samplers with emphasis on immediate samplers, and then discusses some problems in choosing a suitable sampler for benthic macroinvertebrates in deep rivers.

Evaluation of the In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS): comparison with the traditional (bongo net) sampler

Plankton and larval fish sampling programs often are limited by a balance between sampling frequency (for precision) and costs. Advancements in sampling techniques hold the potential to add considerable efficiency and, therefore, add sampling frequency to improve precision. We compare a newly developed plankton imaging system, In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS), with a bongo sampler, which is a traditional plankton sampling gear developed in the 1960s. Comparative sampling was conducted along 2 transects ~30–40 km long. Over 2 days, we completed 36 ISIIS tow-yo undulations and 11 bongo oblique tows, each from the surface to within 10 m of the seafloor. Overall, the 2 gears detected comparable numbers of larval fishes, representing similar taxonomic compositions, although larvae captured with the bongo were capable of being identified to lower taxonomic levels, especially larvae in the small (<5 mm), preflexion stages. Size distributions of the sampled larval fishes differed considerably between these 2 sampling methods, with the size range and mean size of larval fishes larger with ISIIS than with the bongo sampler. The high frequency and fine spatial scale of ISIIS allow it to add considerable sampling precision (i.e., more vertical sections) to plankton surveys. Improvements in the ISIIS technology (including greater depth of field and image resolution) should also increase taxonomic resolution and decrease processing time. When coupled with appropriate net sampling (for the purpose of collecting and verifying the identification of biological samples), the use of ISIIS could improve overall survey design and simultaneously provide detailed, process-oriented information for fisheries scientists and oceanographers.