River water is a small percentage of the total freshwater on Earth but represents an essential resource for mankind. Microbes in rivers perform essential ecosystem roles including the mineralization of significant quantities of organic matter originating from terrestrial habitats. The Amazon river in particular is famous for its size and importance in the mobilization of both water and carbon out of its enormous basin. Here we present the first metagenomic study on the microbiota of this river. It presents many features in common with the other freshwater metagenome available (Lake Gatun in Panama) and much less similarity with marine samples. Among the microbial taxa found, the cosmopolitan freshwater acI lineage of the actinobacteria was clearly dominant. Group I Crenarchaea and the freshwater sister group of the marine SAR11 clade, LD12, were found alongside more exclusive and well known freshwater taxa such as Polynucleobacter. A metabolism-centric analysis revealed a disproportionate representation of pathways involved in heterotrophic carbon processing, as compared to those found in marine samples. In particular, these river microbes appear to be specialized in taking up and mineralizing allochthonous carbon derived from plant material.

ABSTRACT. The Amazon region has the largest hydrographic basin on the planet and is well known for its huge biodiversity of plants and animals. However, there is a lack of studies on aquatic microbial biodiversity in the Solimões River, one of its main water courses. To investigate the microbial biodiversity of this region, we performed 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from Solimões River and adjacent rivers and lakes. Our question was which microorganisms inhabit the different types of aquatic environments in this part of the basin, and how diversity varies among these environments (rivers and lakes). The microbial diversity generating 13 clone libraries of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and 5 libraries of the archaeal 16S rRNA gene was assessed. Diversity measured by several alpha diversity indices (ACE, Chao, Shannon and Simpson) revealed significant differences in diversity indices between lake and river samples. The site with higher microbial diversity was in the Solimões River (4S), downstream the confluence with Purus River. The most common bacterial taxon was the cosmopolitan Polynucleobacter genus, widely observed in all samples. The phylum Thaumarchaeota was the prevailing archaeal taxon. Our results provide the first insight into the microbial diversity of the world's largest river basin.

The new science called Sentiomics aims to identify the dynamic patterns that endow living systems with the capacity to feel and become conscious. One of the most promising fields of investigation in Sentiomics is the development and ‘education’ of human brain organoids to become sentient and useful for the promotion of human health in the (also new) field of Regenerative Neuromedicine. Here, we discuss the type of informational-rich input necessary to make a brain organoid sentient in experimental settings. Combining this research with the ecological preoccupation of preserving ways of sentience in the Amazon Rainforest, we also envisage the development of a new generation of biosensors to capture dynamic patterns from the forest, and use them in the ‘education’ of brain organoids to afford them a ‘mental health’ quality that is likely to be important in future advances in ‘post-humanist’ procedures in regenerative medicine. This study is closely related to the psychophysical approach to human mental health therapy, in which we have proposed the use of dynamic patterns in electric and magnetic brain stimulation protocols, addressing electrochemical waves in neuro-astroglial networks.

ResumoA arquitetura proposta para a extensão do Centro de Pesquisas da Petrobras constitui-se, conceitualmente, num novo paradigma para a arquitetura brasileira. Numa analogia como um organismo vivo, a cobertura e as fachadas funcionam com uma pele, que protege, respira, troca calor e energia com o meio ambiente e que recompõe o microclima transformado pela fotossíntese. O eixo central se caracteriza como estrutura que, a exemplo de uma espinha dorsal de um organismo, articula cada um de seus membros sobre bases ancoradas (blocos de escadas e elevadores), que garantem a estabilidade do conjunto. Possui um sistema nervoso (CIC -Centro Integrado de Controle, CRV -Centro de Realidade Virtual e CIPD/ RIO -Centro Integrado de Processamento de Dados/Rio de Janeiro), que pensa, cria, controla e comanda todos os seus movimentos, acusando o funcionamento sadio de cada órgão que constitui o todo orgânico. Possui, igualmente, um sistema circulatório arterial e venoso, que alimenta e energiza todos os órgãos, o sistema coronariano, que bombeia, o sistema respiratório, que oxigena, o sistema digestivo, que metaboliza e expele, todos eles interagindo entre si, em que cada parte é um elemento indissociável do todo, para um funcionamento sadio, que se preserva no tempo.Palavras-chave: Arquitetura em aço, eco-eficiência, arquitetura brasileira contemporânea, sustentável.

Research progress about the contributions from parametric, generative design to the general decision-making process, specially to Design & Decision Support Systems, into the architecture project, by 2 specific case study on professional practice in Brazil. Proposed approach deal with some contributions that contemporary media of computer graphics could add to architectural practice in a context of progressive automation, simultaneity demands and a need for higher coordination among engineering offices, taking into consideration the adaptation of handmade, industrial traditional tasks through computer-automated design, participative interfaces and digital fabrication support. IntroducciónEl objetivo del artículo es transmitir a la comunidad académica los problemas específicos que están surgiendo en la investigación en marcha sobre Sistemas de Apoyo a la Toma de Decisión (SATD) y modelado paramétrico, como parte del trabajo dentro del estudio en torno al cual trabajan directa o indirectamente los autores, en la búsqueda de un método arquitectónico avanzado que se sirva de las posibilidades de los nuevos medios asimilando conceptos y métodos propios de esos sistemas y del pensamiento paramétrico y algorítmico, con las restricciones de dos encargos anticipados sobre necesidades reales a nivel de estudio preliminar: el primero un concurso público y el segundo un ensayo.El grupo actual sobre SATD (Design & Decision Support Systems, DDSS) configura una línea de investigación consolidada sobre el procedimiento y la utilidad de los sistemas de apoyo a las decisiones espaciales y formales surgidos en torno de la década de 1950 a partir de estudios teóricos sobre organizaciones en el Carnegie Institute of Technology, aplicados a la arquitectura, la planificación urbana y el ambiente construido. Está coordinado desde la Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Holanda) como un centro internacional de investigación con participantes de Austria, Holanda, Alemania, Bélgica y Polonia, entre otros países. Partiendo de esta fundamentación teórica y de los análisis existentes sobre modelado paramétrico y SATD, se aborda el problema de cómo emplear modelos matemáticos rigurosos (una deseable inteligencia computacional) como base para tomar decisiones de proyecto que puedan mejorar el objeto arquitectónico y su comportamiento bajo condicionantes reales, así como centrar las decisiones con más énfasis en el usuario final (Timmermmans et al., 2012).Las aportaciones de la computación evolutiva residen en su capacidad para resolver problemas exponenciales. Dentro de la progresiva automatización de tareas mecánicas y cognitivas, el aprendizaje automático (Mitchell, 1997) es un intento de automatizar algunas partes del método científico mediante métodos matemáticos sofisticados que analizan por data mining bases de información demasiado amplias como para hacerlo a mano, y en base a los cuales tomar decisiones optimizadas, predeterminadas con auxilio del cálculo. Se acepta cada vez más que el uso de modelos paramétricos probabilísticos ...

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