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An article by researchers at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) in Brazil describes a successful strategy to mitigate charge capacity loss in vanadium redox flow batteries, which are used by electric power utilities among other industries and can accumulate large amounts of energy. The article is published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. The study involved computer simulations designed to find out how ion leakage between the anolyte and [...]

Brazil has a housing deficit of 5.876 million units (5.044 million in urban areas and 832,000 in rural areas), according to the latest government survey. The number corresponds to 8.1% of the nation's total stock of private dwellings, permanent and improvised. To make good at least part of this huge social debt, the federal government launched a low-income housing program called Minha Casa Minha Vida ("My Home My Life") in 2009. However, funding was insufficient to meet [...]

Scientists at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the Federal University of the ABC (UFABC) in São Paulo state, Brazil, have successfully produced biogas from apple pomace, the pulpy residue remaining after the fruit has been crushed to extract its juice. An article describing the research is published in the journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery. The key concept is that of the circular economy, a system of closed loops designed to reduce costs, recover [...]

The process of selecting specialty coffee beans entails three kinds of inspection. Two are physical and involve samples of raw and roast coffee. The third is sensory and involves tasting the drink. Certification is provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). In accordance with SCAA guidelines, coffee quality is measured on a decimal scale from zero to 100. A specialty coffee must score 80 or more. The grower sends a sample of raw beans to three cuppers (tasters), who [...]

A scientific article just published by four Brazilian and two American scientists reports gains in electric and thermal energy obtained when brewer's spent grain (barley bagasse), an abundant waste produced by the beer industry, is treated with ultrasound before undergoing anaerobic digestion, a microbiological process involving consumption of organic matter and production of methane. Pre-treatment generated biogas with 56% methane, 27% more than the proportion obtained without use of [...]

A new type of biofilm reactor adapted to Brazilian conditions and using polyurethane foam to lower costs can reduce the amount of nitrogen compounds in wastewater by as much as 70%, according to an article in Environmental Technology. The researchers who conducted the study developed a mathematical model to analyze and predict the nitrogen removal mechanism. The biofilm comprised bacteria that converted nitrogen compounds into nitrogen gas, which is environmentally harmless. The study was [...]

A special issue of EPJST, edited by Dr. Jurgen Kurths, Senior Advisor at the Research Department for Complexity Science, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and Professor and Senior Advisor at Humboldt University, Berlin, Ahmedabad, brings together a collection of papers focusing improving our understanding of the collective dynamics of complex systems. The special issue pays particular attention to the applications of this understanding in the diverse fields of neuroscience, [...]

A wearable sensor printed on microbial nanocellulose, a natural polymer, has been created in Brazil by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Carlos in collaboration with colleagues at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Araraquara, the University of Araraquara (UNIARA), the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), and the Brazilian National Nanotechnology Laboratory (LNNano). The skin-adherent sensor is an improved substitute for conventional sensors printed [...]

Machines can be trained to classify images and thus identify tumors in CT scans, mineral compositions in rocks, or pathologies in optical microscopy analyses. This artificial intelligence technique is known as machine learning and has gained new applications in recent years. Machine training is carried out via the repetition of images used as examples of a particular context or situation and the adequate preparation of that material requires the effort of experts from a variety of [...]