O presente trabalho consiste em uma etnografia do sistema de transporte fluvial no estado do Amazonas e uma análise de habilidades e dos modos de se viver entre cidades e rios amazônicos. Foi tomado como foco de análise as viagens realizadas entre a capital do estado e as cidades de Parintins, Itacoatiara, Maués, Manacapuru e Tefé, além das estruturas portuárias e regiões de moradia sobre as águas. O estudo procura lidar com as relações entre ambientes entendidos como opostos e promover reflexões sobre esses espaços híbridos entre cidade e rios. As massas de água formam caminhos entre as cidades, percorridos diariamente por diversos tipos de embarcações e que fazem circular pessoas e mercadorias. A etnografia mostra que as cidades amazônicas se estendem sobre as superfícies líquidas, de forma a apresentar formas particulares de produção do espaço urbano e disputas sobre esses espaços. / This study presents an ethnographyc study of the river transportation system in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and an analysis of skills and ways of living between cities and rivers. The research focus the travels between Manaus and the cities of Parintins, Itacoatiara, Maués, Manacapuru and Tefé, as well as the port infraestructure and living spaces on the water. This research deals with the relationship between two environment understood as opposites in order to promote a reflection on these hybrid spaces between city and rivers. Those bodies of water form paths between cities, traveled daily by many types of ships making goods and people circulate. The ethnography shows that Amazonian cities extend themselves on liquid surfaces, revealing specific forms of production of urban space and disputes over these spaces.

O presente trabalho consiste em uma etnografia do sistema de transporte fluvial no estado do Amazonas e uma análise de habilidades e dos modos de se viver entre cidades e rios amazônicos. Foi tomado como foco de análise as viagens realizadas entre a capital do estado e as cidades de Parintins, Itacoatiara, Maués, Manacapuru e Tefé, além das estruturas portuárias e regiões de moradia sobre as águas. O estudo procura lidar com as relações entre ambientes entendidos como opostos e promover reflexões sobre esses espaços híbridos entre cidade e rios. As massas de água formam caminhos entre as cidades, percorridos diariamente por diversos tipos de embarcações e que fazem circular pessoas e mercadorias. A etnografia mostra que as cidades amazônicas se estendem sobre as superfícies líquidas, de forma a apresentar formas particulares de produção do espaço urbano e disputas sobre esses espaços. / This study presents an ethnographyc study of the river transportation system in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and an analysis of skills and ways of living between cities and rivers. The research focus the travels between Manaus and the cities of Parintins, Itacoatiara, Maués, Manacapuru and Tefé, as well as the port infraestructure and living spaces on the water. This research deals with the relationship between two environment understood as opposites in order to promote a reflection on these hybrid spaces between city and rivers. Those bodies of water form paths between cities, traveled daily by many types of ships making goods and people circulate. The ethnography shows that Amazonian cities extend themselves on liquid surfaces, revealing specific forms of production of urban space and disputes over these spaces.

<p>Mercury (Hg) is a globally circulating heavy metal released through both natural and anthropogenic sources. The largest anthropogenic source of mercury to the global atmosphere is artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). During the ASGM process, miners add elemental mercury to large quantities of sediment or soil in order to create gold-mercury amalgams that separate alluvial gold from the remaining geological host material. Miners then heat the amalgam using a blowtorch or similar device to separate the mercury and gold, exposing themselves to mercury vapor and releasing mercury to the environment. Following amalgam heating, mercury can deposit into aquatic ecosystems. There, anaerobic microorganisms can convert mercury to methylmercury (MeHg), a potent neurotoxin that rapidly accumulates in aquatic food webs. A high concentration of MeHg in fish poses serious human health risks, especially to pregnant women and children. </p><p>In Peru’s Region of Madre de Dios (MDD), mercury use for ASGM is widespread due to increasing global demand for gold. This region in the tropical Amazon is one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems and home to more than 150,000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, 40% of whom live below the poverty level. Recently, people living in the region have become more aware of negative impacts of Hg pollution through popular press. However, there is lack of controlled scientific studies to examine the environmental impacts of Hg from ASGM and subsequent exposures to surrounding communities. </p><p>This dissertation addresses four questions in order to better understand how mercury from ASGM impacts environmental health in Madre de Dios: (1) How is mercury distributed along the Madre de Dios River in areas of active ASGM activity, and what is the risk for mercury exposure to downstream communities? (2) How does land use change associated with ASGM activity affect soil-mediated mercury transport in the Colorado River, Madre de Dios, Peru? (3) Can sulfurized carbon be manufactured in a feasible way for developing countries and used to capture mercury during ASGM amalgam burning? (4) What is the mercury methylation potential of easy-to-manufacture spent, sulfurized carbon sorbents?</p><p>Despite significant information on the direct health impacts of mercury to ASGM miners, the impact of mercury contamination on downstream communities has not been well characterized, particularly in Madre de Dios. In this area, ASGM has increased significantly since 2000 and has led to substantial political and social controversy. The second chapter of this dissertation examines the spatial distribution and transport of mercury through the Madre de Dios River with distance from ASGM activity. It also characterizes risks for dietary mercury exposure to local residents who depend on fish from the river. River sediment, suspended solids from the water column, and fish samples were collected in 2013 at 62 sites near 17 communities over a 560 km stretch of the Madre de Dios River and its major tributaries. In areas downstream of know ASGM activity, mercury concentrations in sediment, suspended solids and fish within the Madre de Dios River were elevated relative to locations upstream of mining. Fish tissue mercury concentrations were observed at levels representing a public health threat, with greater than one-third of carnivorous fish exceeding the international health standard of 0.5 mg/kg. This research demonstrates that communities located hundreds of kilometers downstream of ASGM activity, including children and indigenous populations who may not be involved in mining, are at risk of dietary mercury exposure that exceed acceptable body burdens. </p><p>This research involved extensive field sampling in an active mining region and indicated suspended particulate transport may be an important source of mercury from mining areas to downstream communities. Chapter three of this research focused on understanding how land use changes can influence soil and sediment transport from mining regions. Within the MDD, a large portion of mining in concentrated within the Colorado River watershed. In the Colorado River watershed, mining and deforestation have increased dramatically since the 1980s, largely concentrated in the Puquiri subwatershed. Field sampling in Feb 2015 identified a strong correlation between Hg and suspended solids concentrations, with especially high suspended solids concentrations downstream of ASGM activity. This supported the hypothesis that Mercury transport in this region is facilitated by soil mobilization and runoff. In order to understand how ASGM activity in the Puquiri affects sediment mobilization from the watershed over time, we employed a watershed-scale soil mobilization model using satellite imagery from 1986 to 2014. The model estimated that soil mobilization in the Colorado River watershed increased by 2.5 times during the time period, and increased by six times in the Puquiri subwatershed, leading to between 10 and 60 kg of mercury mobilized in 2014. If deforestation continues at its current exponential rate through 2030, soil and heavy metal mobilization may increase by five times. This research shows that deforestation associated with ASGM in the Colorado River watershed can exacerbate soil mobilization and mercury contamination. While the impacts of mercury and deforestation are often considered separately, here we studied how deforestation associated with ASGM in the Madre de Dios region can significantly increase soil mobilization and mercury transport to downstream communities.</p><p>With a substantial portion of mercury releases coming from a non-industrialized process in developing countries, low-cost and low-tech mercury capture is becoming increasingly necessary. While impregnated activated carbon sorbents are well studied for mercury-capture in developed countries and large industrialized settings, there exist few suitable low-cost alternatives for mercury capture from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in developing countries. Chapter four sought to develop an easy-to-manufacture carbon sorbent using elemental sulfur and activated carbon or hardwood-based biochar for potential use during ASGM gold-amalgam heating. Consumer-grade sulfur powder was melted on granular activated carbon or hardwood biochar in a process feasible for a cook stove setting. Activated carbon and biochar were successfully sulfurized to more than 5% sulfur by weight using powdered, elemental sulfur. The sorbent products were tested for elemental mercury sorption from an air gas stream at room temperature. The sulfurized activated carbon achieved higher elemental mercury adsorption capacity in air stream (500 μg Hg m-3, 2 L min-2) relative to unsulfurized activated carbon and sulfurized biochar. Sorption isotherms were used to examine the sorption mechanism, and indicated that likely a pseudo first order reaction was occurring. This research provides a possible option for mercury control by modifying established mercury capture technologies to be easy to manufacture, locally available, and less hazardous to produce.</p><p>In Chapter 5 of this research, the sulfurized sorbents were examined further to understand methylation potential in sediment slurries. Anaerobic sediment slurries were constructed to examine methylmercury (MeHg) production of spent sorbents. Five sorbent types with approximately 10 mg/kg Hg each were added to slurries at 5 % by mass. Dissolved mercury was used as a control to simulate atmospheric deposition or highly reactive mercury. After a 5 d incubation at room temperature, MeHg production was ten times greater with low-technology sulfurized sorbents as compared to activated carbon or biochar alone. Sulfurized sorbents leached significantly more mercury than their non-sulfurized counterparts during desorption experiments and led to greater dissolved mercury concentrations. This research shows that low-cost mercury-contaminated sorbents can have unintended consequences with increased MeHg production and potential for more harm to local communities than atmospheric release.</p><p>Mercury releases from ASGM are expected to grow, leading to higher concentrations of mercury in the atmosphere that may affect ecosystems throughout the globe. Understanding the importance of mercury from ASGM to toxicity and accumulation requires in depth research on mercury transformations and MeHg production associated with ASGM. This research examines mercury distribution and transport from ASGM active regions. It identifies that deforestation, erosion, and particulate transport play important roles in overall mercury transport, leading to hazardous mercury concentrations downstream of ASGM activity. Effective point-of-use mercury capture technologies would dramatically decrease the mass of mercury released to the environment. The final chapters of this research serve as a proof of concept for using sulfurized activated carbon for mercury capture in developing countries. </p><p>Our research team has built strong relationships with several governmental and non-governmental organizations in Peru who will aid in distributing information. This research will provide invaluable environmental health information to residents, inform political intervention, and reveal a new potential avenue for low-cost mercury control.</p> / Dissertation

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:41:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raquel_Salgado_Marques.pdf: 6909693 bytes, checksum: 4538981a4e5d6aa9aac1b4dd67836bae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-27 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The world of work in the city of Manaus started and goes through many changes that are detected mainly by increasing the number of workers who fall within the informal market daily, occupying spaces in the city as an area of work. Among these spacesis the port of São Raimundo, included among the 57 ports along the waterfront of Manaus, which extends from the mouth of the river to the mouth of Tarumã Puraquequara River, an area of 43 km, located on the left bank Negro River in the west of the city of Manaus, and that makes the crossing to the port of Cacau District Pirêra. These ports are manifestations of multiple places of work. Have a significant number of men and women who use the space port, the ferries and boats for their livelihoods. This dissertation deals with the precarious and informal subject oftransporting people and goods sold in an intense shuttle between the port and the port of São Raimundo Cacau Pirêra. Our goal is to characterize the daily work ofstreet vendors and taxi drivers of sea-freight, operating in informality, precariousness and Girded by the neglect of the public. / O mundo do trabalho na cidade de Manaus passou e passa por inúmeras transformações que são constatadas, principalmente, pelo acréscimo do número de trabalhadores que se inserem no mercado informal cotidianamente, ocupando espaços da cidade como território de trabalho. Entre esses espaços está o porto do São Raimundo, incluído entre os 57 portos ao longo da beira-rio de Manaus, que se estende desde a foz do rio Tarumã até a foz do rio Puraquequara, numa área de 43 Km, localizado à margem esquerda do rio Negro, na zona Oeste da cidade de Manaus, e que faz a travessia até ao porto do Distrito do Cacau Pirêra. Esses portos são lugares de múltiplas manifestações de trabalho. Apresentam um número significativo de homens e mulheres que utilizam o espaço do porto, das balsas e dos barcos como meio de subsistência. Essa dissertação versa sobre o trabalho precário e informal desses sujeitos que transportam pessoas e vendem mercadorias num intenso vaivém entre o porto do São Raimundo e o porto do Cacau Pirêra. Nosso objetivo é caracterizar o trabalho cotidiano dos vendedores ambulantes e dos motoristas de táxi marítimo-frete, que atuam na informalidade, cingidos pela precarização e pelo esquecimento do poder público.

This Thesis is a contribution to the research of Entrepreneurship and its impact on process of historical change. The paper focuses on life and career of the South Bohemian Entrepreneur, Industrialist and Patron Vojtěch (Adalbert) Lanna. By examining his life it is possible to explore wider social processes leading to fundamental social change, based on switching from feudal to modern arrangement of state and society. Vojtěch Lanna begins his career, like many of his ancestors, as a salt carrier. Later he manages to run his own business, based on river transportation and water engineering, which allowes him to accumulate enough capital to enter other industrial sectors. During his later life he participates on to the construction of railways, later he focuses on coal mining. His biggest achievements is building of modern ironworks named Vojtěšská huť. Throughout his life he runs many other business that are related to his main lifelong activities. He is also known for his charity and a humane approach. He supports education, music and art. His life and his business activities is a reflection of the economic development of the first half and the beginning of the second half of 19th century.

River discharge can affect ocean surface temperature by altering stratification within the oceanic mixed layer. A hitherto unexplored aspect of present climate is the feedback of river runoff onto climate. This thesis presents an investigation of the impact of global river runoff on oceans and climate using a fully coupled global climate model, Community Climate System Model (CCSM). Two model simulations for a period of 100 years have been carried out: 1) a reference run (CTRL) that incorporates all the features of a global coupled model with river runoff into the ocean embedded in it, and 2) a sensitivity run (NoRiv) in which the global river runoff into the ocean is blocked. Comparison of model climate devoid of fluvial discharge with the reference run reveals the significance of fluvial discharge in the present climate. By the end of 50 years of NoRiv experiment, salinity growth slows down and reaches a quasi-stable state. Regions close to river mouths exhibited maximum salinity rise that can potentially alter local density and stratification. On an average, denser and saltier waters in the NoRiv run annihilate barrier layer and form a deeper mixed layer, compared to CTRL run. Density gradient created by the modulation in salinity set forth anomalous currents and circulation across coastlines that carries coastal anomalies to open ocean, preventing local salinity buildup. Arctic Ocean, Bay of Bengal, northern high latitude Pacific and the Atlantic are the most affected regions in terms of changes in salinity and temperature. Model simulations demonstrate that major transformation in Arctic freshwater budget can have potential impact on northern Pacific and Atlantic climate. In the absence of runoff, global average sea surface temperature (SST) rise by about ~ 0.5oC, with major contribution from northern higher latitude oceans. In the Pacific, high latitude warming is related to deepening of mixed layer as well as the northward transport of low latitude warmer waters. Substantial cooling in the central equatorial Pacific (~1oC during winter) can alter large-scale ocean-atmosphere circulation, including El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The reinforcement of Pacific and Atlantic western boundary currents aids the transport of warm saline water from low latitudes to higher latitudes. The results suggest that the river runoff can have potential impact on oceanic climate. Response of Indian summer monsoon rainfall to global continental runoff is also examined. In the NoRiv run, average summer monsoon rainfall over India increased by ~ 0.55 mm day−1. Consistent with the increase in annual average Indian monsoon rainfall, all other northern hemispheric monsoon systems showed an increase, while southern hemispheric monsoons weakened. Associated with enhanced monsoon, the periodicity of ENSO in the NoRiv run changes as a result of cooling tendency in the equatorial Pacific, a sign of consistent La Niña. Equatorial Pacific cooling, in spite of a global ocean warming trend, is found to be primarily because of the enhanced local easterly winds and resultant strong equatorial upwelling. Cold anomaly due to upwelling spread entire equatorial Pacific basin within a span of 50 years. The La Niña situation in the Pacific favored increased monsoon rainfall over Indian subcontinent. Another surprising result of this study is the strengthening of ENSO-monsoon relationship in the NoRiv run. This suggests that the river discharge can be considered as a dampening force in the ENSO-monsoon relationship. Northern hemisphere showed a clear warming in the NoRiv simulation compared to CTRL, the result of which is an enhanced trans-hemispheric gradient. Cross-equatorial winds triggered by this gradient blow from southern hemisphere and shift the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) northward, increasing the precipitation in the northern hemisphere. The cooling in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and the warming in the west, reflected in the increase in number of positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events (9 positive and 5 negative IOD events in the last 50 years), also favored summer-time rainfall over India.