Background Due to the problems we face today, such as wastewater pollution of aquifers and climate change, it is necessary to search for environmental solutions that help us minimize this problem. An alternative solution might be the cultivation of microalgae that are efficient in the purification of wastewater, removal of greenhouse gases and production of biomass that can be used for the production of biofuels such as biodiesel, methane, bioethanol, among others. The aim of this work is to cultivate five strains of microalgae native in Mexico: Chlorella miniata, Coelastrella sp., Desmodesmus quadricauda, Neochloris oleoabundans and Verrucodesmus verrucosus. The cultivations were performed using municipal wastewater and a foliar fertilizer with the further purpose of assessing their capacity to produce various types of biomass, in particular lipids. Methods The experiments were carried out using triplicate 16-L glass bioreactors assays with a 12:12 light–darkness cycle at 25 °C ± 1 under constant aeration. Every 3rd day, a 1-mL sample was taken to determine cell density. In the stationary growth phase, each culture was harvested by sedimentation and lipid content analysis was performed. The biomass with the highest concentration of total lipids was subjected to an analysis of the methyl esters of fatty acids. Results An ANOVA test showed significant differences between the growth rates (F = 6.8, p = 0.0001). The species that were able to produce biomass with the highest concentrations of total lipids were Coelastrella sp. with 44–46%; Verrucodesmus verrucosus with 43–44% and Neochloris oleoabundans 35–37%. As the analysis of the methyl esters of fatty acids showed, the species Coelastrella sp. and V. verrucosus produced lipids composed of 82.9% and 91.28% of fatty acids, respectively, containing C16–C18 carbon chains. Conclusions All the species used in the present study were able to grow on wastewater and produce high concentrations of lipids. Therefore, the demands for biodiesel production could be met in the immediate future after continuing working with different microalgae species. Therefore, it is necessary to determine their adaptation potential to grow on contaminated effluents and produce lipids that can be used for the benefit of people and environment.

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Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has brought negative effects to the environment produced by the materials that compose them. The proper implementation of management plans of WEEE should integrate measures to prevent, mitigate and correct these affectations. As an initial step, it is necessary to make a diagnosis of the current situation of WEEE management which is the objective of this work. The studied zone was composed by the municipalities of Tampico, Ciudad Madero and Altamira located in southeast Tamaulipas, Mexico. The descriptive analysis of technical and regulatory aspects of the current management system in the study area was developed, including generation rates and analysis of waste streams. Among the main results, the generation of WEEE was estimated in 2040.38 tons/year for 2013, distributed in the municipalities of Tampico with 830.93 tons/year, Altamira with 650.18 tons/year, and Ciudad Madero with 559.27 tons/year. This calculation was estimated using Mexico's WEEE generation indicators. The analysis of waste streams includes five categories of WEEE, Televisions with 61% of the total generation, followed by sound devices with 18%, personal computers with 17%; mobile phones with 2% as well as fixed phones with 1%. In the study area, reports of Tampico's municipality indicated that 96 tons of WEEE was collected in the city of Tampico in 2013. In México, the national legislation considers WEEE in the category of waste requiring special handling (WRSH), however, an inadequacy exists in the environmental laws about the specific classification of this kind of debris that makes their effective management more difficult. No companies who provide a management or treatment operations for WEEE are reported in Tampico, or in the near region. In addition, despite an initial interest for the municipality to attend the WEEE problematic, a lack of sensibility of the population exists in the absence of environmental education programs.

The process of identifying the attributes and relationships considered in an ontology is a complex task because there are many factors involved in the deterioration of environmental quality, the diversity of sources and data dispersion. This work presents an ontology that integrates the data required by an Environmental Quality Synoptic System (EQSS), which to date scatters in different Internet sites and concentrates by different agencies for example INEGI, CONABIO, SEMARNAT, CNA, among others. The methodology process consists of the collection of environmental information in Mexico through the application of computational techniques resulting ontology with environmental knowledge that will be processed by the system EQSS. Among the main advantages is than the selection and structure of information allow the automated generation of results in an environmental statement. The ontology proposal is based on knowledge of EQSS system that is based on the architecture of expert systems and through this important information for decisionmaking in regard to environmental quality and interaction with Geographic Information System (GIS) is obtained.

La vulnerabilidad socioeconómica es un tema prioritario debido a los efectos del cambio climático y al aumento de entropía de los distintos factores climáticos, lo cual influye en el incremento de desastres que repercute en el desarrollo sustentable de los municipios costeros. El objetivo consistió en mostrar los impactos socioeconómicos que puede sufrir Matamoros, Tamaulipas, bajo el escenario de un incremento súbito en el nivel del mar de cinco metros. La matriz metodológica consistió en territorializar y cualificar a los grupos vulnerables. Resultados: si Matamoros sufriera una inundación de cinco metros sobre el nivel del mar, 63.58% de su territorio quedaría anegado.