This study sought to evaluate and propose adjustments to the water quality monitoring network of surface freshwaters in the Paraopeba river basin (Minas Gerais, Brazil), using multivariate statistical methods. A total of 13,560 valid data were analyzed for 19 water quality parameters at 30 monitoring sites, over a period of 5 years (2008-2013). The cluster analysis grouped the monitoring sites in eight groups based on similarities of water quality characteristics. This analysis made it possible to detect the most relevant monitoring stations in the river basin. The principal components analysis associated with non-parametric tests and the analysis of violation of the standards prescribed by law, allowed for identifying the most relevant parameters which must be maintained in the network (thermotolerant coliforms, total manganese, and total phosphorus). The discharge of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater, that from mining activities and diffuse pollution from agriculture and pasture areas are the main sources of pollution responsible for the surface water quality deterioration in this basin. The BP073 monitoring site presents the most degraded water quality in the Paropeba river basin. The monitoring sites BP094 and BP092 are located geographically close and they measure similar water quality, so a possible assessment of the need to maintain only one of the two in the monitoring network is suggested. Therefore, multivariate analyses were efficient to assess the adequacy of the water quality monitoring network of the Paraopeba river basin, and it can be used in other watersheds.

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The São Francisco River is the largest river located entirely within Brazil, and water scarcity problems have been a major concern of Brazilian society and government. Water quality issues are also a concern and have worsened with the recent intensification of urbanization and industrialization. In this study, violations to water quality standards established by local legislation were calculated as a percentage for 26 selected parameters over a monitoring period of 14 years. The violation percentages were analyzed spatially using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by multiple comparison analysis. Temporal analysis was performed using the Mann-Kendall test and Spearman correlation. Some parameters could be identified as cause for concern due to high violation levels, such as the fecal coliform indicator (FCI) and phosphorus-both related to domestic and effluent disposal without treatment or with insufficient treatment-and color, turbidity, manganese, and total suspended solids-which can be affected by erosive processes of natural and anthropogenic causes. The study found that these violations are concentrated in the most urbanized and industrialized areas of the basin. Some metallic parameters, such as iron and arsenic violations, may be related to mining activities in the rich soil of the Iron Quadrangle area located within the Minas Gerais State. Trend analysis results indicated that most monitoring stations did not have significant modification (elevation or reduction) trends over time, which, together with the high violation percentages, might indicate the maintenance of a scenario of constant pressure upon water resources, in particular in those more urbanized areas.

The objective of this research was to analyze the academic literature focusing on how product packaging influences consumer behavior through the use of a bibliometric study. To accomplish this, we analyzed 111

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Resumo:O Governo brasileiro, no que tange ao sistema educacional do país, tem criado programas, como o sistema Universidade Aberta do Brasil (UAB), para ampliar o acesso à educação superior em diversas regiões. Nesse sentido, este ensaio teórico está pautado na necessidade de analisar os aspectos da Educação a Distância (EaD) quanto as suas fragilidades e potencialidades capazes de inibir ou disseminar a oferta de cursos superiores. Como conclusões identificou-se que as principais fragilidades que a gestão da EaD deve priorizar são: o desconhecimento e a falta de preparo dos alunos para a modalidade de EaD; ineficiência do material didático; indisponibilidade de bibliotecas físicas e virtuais de qualidade. Dentre as potencialidades foram identificados a abrangência e quebra de barreiras geográficas e a inserção no meio educacional de um público com limitações de acesso para os ditames da política pública educacional.

Proper water quality monitoring is a valuable tool for water resource management, helping to identify polluting sources and risks related to the use of water resources. One of the main types of contamination found in Brazilian water bodies is fecal contamination, which originates mainly from point source pollution through wastewater disposal. Thus, this study analyzed water quality monitoring data from the responsible environmental body (Minas Gerais Institute of Water Management, IGAM), related to the fecal contamination indicator (FCI), for the years 2000–2018. This was done for the Minas Gerais portion of the São Francisco River basin (SFRB-MG), one of the most important basins in the country. The 10 sub-basins in the area were compared using statistical tools. The work found significant differences between the sub-basins in terms of FCI concentration, highlighting the most impacted ones (SF2, SF3, and SF5) as also being the most densely populated. It is necessary to invest in sanitation measures in order to ensure that water resources are preserved, as well as to reduce the public health risks of downstream municipalities that are supplied with previously contaminated water.

The irrigation perimeters of Jaíba and Gorutuba/Lagoa Grande are located in the Minas Gerais portion of the Middle São Francisco river basin, Brazil, occupying an area of approximately 31,493 ha. This region has the potential to contaminate water resources as a result of urbanization, deforestation and the application of fertilizers and pesticides in agricultural activities. The aim of this research was to investigate the impact of irrigation on surface water quality in the region, using secondary monitoring. Nine monitoring stations were selected in the region, which represent the diferente uses and occupation of land.The cluster analysis and the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by multiple comparisons, were used to comparatively evaluate the sampling stations and to identify which parameters showed different behavior among these stations. Although it was not possible to observe a pattern of contamination due to the location of the stations, it was found that the stations located along the São Francisco river showed no significant differences, although the use and occupation of land were different. The temporal trend of the constituents was verified by applying the test of the hypothesis of stationarity Spearmant, which found that most of the data analyzed were not stationary, with a tendency of increase or decrease over the analysis period. After the application of these statistical tests, it was concluded that, in general, the implementation of irrigated perimeters caused low impact in water quality in the region, in the period studied, considering the parameters analyzed in this study.