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The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded more than $41.2 million through its Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) to support university-led nuclear energy research and development projects, including a total of $4.6 million for projects led by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers.

UW-Madison is the lead institution for four of the 43 university-led research and development projects awarded funding in 2023. NEUP seeks to maintain U.S. leadership in nuclear research across the country by providing top science and engineering faculty and their students with opportunities to develop innovative technologies and solutions for civil nuclear capabilities.

Mark Anderson (PI), Consolidated Papers Associate Professor in mechanical engineering at UW-Madison, received $1 million for a project that will experimentally investigate the thermal-hydraulics performance of silicon carbide compared to other accident tolerant fuel cladding materials under accident scenarios. The project will advance the understanding of the operation and optimization of heat pipes for advanced nuclear reactors. Tiago Moreira, a scientist in mechanical engineering, and Allison Mahvi, a mechanical engineering assistant professor, are UW-Madison collaborators on the project, along with researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Westinghouse, General Atomics and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Kaibo Liu (PI), a professor of industrial and systems engineering at UW-Madison, received $1 million for a research project that aims to provide technical solutions to unique cybersecurity challenges in future microreactor fleet through cyber-informed design, real-time anomaly detection, dynamic monitoring and cost-effective mitigation strategies. The efforts will significantly improve the economics and effectiveness of cybersecurity risk management in future microreactor fleets. Professor Laura Albert, the David Gustafson Department Chair of Industrial and Systems Engineering at UW-Madison, is a collaborator on the project, along with researchers from the University of Michigan, Georgia Institute of Technology and Idaho National Laboratory.

Yongfeng Zhang (PI), an assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at UW-Madison, received $999,983 for a project that aims to gain a fundamental understanding of the impact of moisture and salt chemistry on corrosion of nickel-chromium alloys in molten chloride salts. The researchers will design a novel approach coupling multiscale simulations and experiments to determine salt acidity, its dependence on salt composition, and its effects on the transport of H2O and chromium ions and the corrosion kinetics of nickel-chromium alloys in chloride salt. UW-Madison collaborators include Kumar Sridharan, Grainger Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics (NEEP) and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and NEEP Associate Professor Adrien Couet, along with researchers from the University of Florida, Los Alamos National Laboratory and TerraPower.

Mike Wagner (PI), an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison, received $1 million for a research project that aims to develop an integrated nuclear system that would use electricity and waste heat to operate a desalination and mining process from adjacent seawater. The desalination approach targets zero-liquid discharge with multiple marketable minerals extracted. Because the ability of nuclear facilities to load follow is increasingly important, the researchers will incorporate a cold thermal storage system. The team will experimentally validate the desalination and mineral extraction process at lab scale. UW-Madison collaborators include NEEP Assistant Professor Ben Lindley, mechanical engineering professors Mark Anderson and Luca Mastropasqua, and Mohan Qin, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with researchers from Idaho National Laboratory and Westinghouse.

In addition, Juliana Pacheco Duarte, an assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at UW-Madison, received a U.S. Department of Energy distinguished early career program award. Duarte is one of only five faculty in the United States to receive the award in 2023. The program invests in the innovative research and education programs of outstanding early-career university faculty poised to pave new lines of inquiry and advance mission-critical research directions in nuclear energy. With the $625,000 award over five years, Duarte will conduct experiments and harness machine learning techniques to answer crucial questions about transient critical heat flux in light water reactors. Read more about Duarte’s research project here.

Paul Wilson, the Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at UW-Madison, is a collaborator on a project led by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign that will add capabilities to Cyclus, an agent-based fuel cycle simulator, to address current and future fuel cycle and supply chain challenges. This project is motivated, in part, by recent events in the U.S. commercial nuclear fuel supply chains, such as the need to develop a non-Russian-based commercial supply of High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium, the closure at the Westinghouse Columbia facility in 2016, and the temporary closure of the CoverDyn conversion facility in 2004. Each of these events highlights the need for modeling capabilities that can accurately account for supply chain disruptions and assist decision makers and key stakeholders.

Men walk through a lush plantation between Ecuador ‘s balmy Pacific coast and its majestic Andes, lopping hundreds of bunches of green bananas from groaning plants twice their height.

Workers haul the bunches to an assembly line, where the bananas are washed, weighed and plastered with stickers for European buyers. Owner Franklin Torres is monitoring all activity on a recent morning to make sure the fruit meets international beauty standards — and ever more important, is packed for shipment free of cocaine.

A worker starts the job of sorting out a fruit cluster shortly after harvest at a packing plant in Los Rios, Ecuador on August 15, 2023. (Martin Mejia/AP)

Torres is hypervigilant because Ecuador is increasingly at the confluence of two global trades: bananas and cocaine.

The South American country is the world’s largest exporter of bananas, shipping about 7.2 tons a year by sea. It is also wedged between the world’s largest cocaine producers, Peru and Colombia, and drug traffickers find containers filled with bananas the perfect vehicle to smuggle their product.

Drug traffickers’ infiltration of the industry that is responsible for about 30% of the world’s bananas has contributed to unprecedented violence across this once-peaceful nation. Shootings, homicides, kidnappings and extortions have become part of daily life, particularly in the Pacific port city and banana-shipping hub of Guayaquil.

“This is everyone’s responsibility: the person who transports it, the person who buys it, the person who consumes it,” vendor Dalia Chang, 59, a lifelong resident of Guayaquil, said of the cocaine trade. “They all share responsibility. They have ruined our country.”

The country, which is not a major cocaine producer, was especially rattled when a presidential candidate known for his tough stance on organized crime and corruption — Fernado Villavicencio — was fatally shot at the end of an Aug. 9 campaign rally. He had accused the Ecuadorian Los Choneros gang and its imprisoned leader, whom he linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

In addition to its proximity to cocaine production, cartels from Mexico, Colombia and the Balkans have settled in Ecuador because it uses the U.S. dollar and has weak laws and institutions, along with a network of long-established gangs like Los Choneros that are eager for work.

Authorities say Ecuador also gained prominence in the global cocaine trade after political changes in Colombia last decade. Coca bush fields in Colombia have been moving closer to the border with Ecuador due to the breakup of criminal groups after the 2016 demobilization of the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better-known by their Spanish acronym FARC.

A record 2,304 metric tons of cocaine was manufactured in 2021 around the world, mostly in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. That year, nearly a third of the cocaine seized by customs authorities in Western and Central Europe came from Ecuador, double the amount reported in 2018, according to a United Nations report citing data from the World Customs Organization. Large drug busts have become more frequent and within the past month, European authorities have made record-setting busts after inspecting containers carrying bananas from Ecuador.

Authorities on Aug. 25 announced Spain’s biggest cocaine haul yet: 9.5 metric tons hidden among cardboard boxes of bananas from Ecuador in a refrigerated container. Dutch officials also made their country’s largest-ever cocaine seizure last month — nearly 8 metric tons — in a container of Ecuadorian bananas. Authorities in Greece and Italy also announced seizures of cocaine hidden in Ecuadorian bananas this year.

Bananas headed to Europe are boxed at plantations, loaded into trucks that take them to massive warehouses in and around Guayaquil and transferred to maritime containers driven to an area port.

Then the ships head northeast to the Panama Canal, cross to the Caribbean Sea, and go east across the Atlantic.

Knowingly or not, banana growers, exporters, shipping corporations, port operators, private security companies, customs agents, agriculture officials, police, and buyers offer opportunities that drug traffickers have exploited.

Some traffickers have created front companies to mimic legitimate banana exporters, while others have acquired legitimate businesses, including plantations. They have found companies willing to be complicit in trafficking. They also have paid off, threatened or kidnapped truck drivers and other workers to help get cocaine into shipments.

A worker ties a pallet loaded with boxes of bananas at a packing plant in Los Rios, Ecuador on August 15, 2023. (Martin Mejia/AP)

Other traffickers have corrupted or intimidated police, customs agents, security guards and port workers to assist with — or ignore — tampering with containers at the ports.

Drug trafficking has contributed to the number of violent deaths in Ecuador, which doubled from 2021 to 2022, when 4,600 died, the most ever recorded in a year. The country is on track to break the annual record again, with 3,568 violent deaths tallied in the first half of 2023.

In Guayaquil, where maritime shipping containers are part of the landscape, people live in fear these days. Pedestrians don’t dare take their phones out of their pockets. Convenience stores have floor-to-ceiling metal bars that prevent customers from entering from the sidewalk. Restaurants that survived the pandemic close early.

Along with the rise in homicides, the amount of cocaine seized at the country’s ports has increased, too, reaching 77.4 metric tons last year. That is more than three times the amount seized in 2020.

National Police Gen. Pablo Ramírez, Ecuador’s national director of anti-drug investigations, attributed the change to increased smuggling, not better enforcement.

Police data also show that of last year’s total, a record 47.5 metric tons of cocaine were found in shipments of bananas, even though the fruit’s exports dropped 6.4% compared to 2021.

No more than 30% of containers is currently inspected at Ecuadorian ports, a process done manually or with drug-sniffing dogs. President Guillermo Lasso’s government says it wants to use scanners on entire containers. Twelve of those machines were supposed to be operating already but Ramírez said that has not happened yet.

Ramírez said he expects all ports to have operational scanners by mid-2024. He said two ports have tested the scanners to smooth out internal procedures and train the people who will be working with the machines.

The operator of the largest port in Guayaquil, Contecon Guayaquil S.A., turned down Associated Press requests for an interview and access to the port to see existing security procedures. In response to written questions about the measures, spokeswoman Alexandra Pacheco said in a statement that the operator entered into an agreement with the National Police in 2022 to among other things “reinforce operations in the port.” She added that the operator plans to spend about $15 million on the scanners.

Jose Hidalgo, executive director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador, said the industry faces greater exposure to trafficking than other commodity exports because of the volume of containers that it uses.

“It is because of bananas that there are so many ports,” Hidalgo said. “It opens routes to other export products.”

He explained that exporters spend about $100 million annually on security measures, which include surveillance cameras at plantations, GPS monitoring of trucks and the identification of land routes that require police patrols to keep criminals away.

Nonetheless, some exporters have been accused of being complicit or directly involved in trafficking cocaine. The organization behind the record-setting cocaine bust in Spain, according to that country’s tax agency, operated through a banana exporting company in Machala, a city south of Guayaquil.

Hours after this story was published Monday, agriculture and customs officials in Ecuador announced in a statement that the administration had purged a government-run banana-export database. It annulled the profiles of export companies deemed to be fake or incomplete and revoked permits of plantations covering 39,537 acres determined to be nonexistent.

Torres, the plantation owner, would like to see that type of troubled exporters kicked out of the industry. But there is no regulation that can be used to revoke a company’s banana-exporting permission when the business is tied repeatedly to drug trafficking.

Mérida, Yucatán, September 13, 2023.- In order to prevent the health of Meridanos and prevent cases of dengue fever, Rommel Pacheco continues to travel the streets of the city with his fumigation brigade in which he himself heads and participates. Even on weekends, Rommel and his team go out very early in the morning in

Curacao Liqueur

Did you additionally recognize that the Curacao liqueur is the worldwide ambassador of the island? Curacao liqueur is and also orange flavorful liqueur. The Curacao liqueur is made from the dried out peels of the bitter oranges or “Laraha” oranges that is located on the Caribbean, particularly the island of Curacao.

A dish was after that created by a Jewish family members (Senior family members) in Curacao. With this came the “Curacao liqueur”. They made a huge financial investment to begin the Curacao liqueur sector.

Curacao liqueur has actually come to be a globe success as well as with that numerous alcohol suppliers around the world albeit generated Curacao liqueur yet with man-made tastes. The real Curacao liqueur is called “Curacao of Curacao”. Initial Curacao liqueur is clear in shade.

The name “Curacao liqueur” is currently common and also can be based on any kind of white spirits. Several a glass of wine suppliers around the globe currently generate Curacao liqueur. It is where the renowned initial Curacao liqueur or “Curacao of Curacao” was created.

Curacao liqueur is and also orange flavorful liqueur. The Curacao liqueur is made from the dried out peels of the bitter oranges or “Laraha” oranges that is located on the Caribbean, especially the island of Curacao. Curacao liqueur has actually come to be a globe success as well as with that lots of alcohol producers globally albeit created Curacao liqueur however with fabricated tastes. The real Curacao liqueur is called “Curacao of Curacao”. It is where the well-known initial Curacao liqueur or “Curacao of Curacao” was established.

Former PFL tournament champion Kayla Harrison will return against Julia Budd later this year.

The Judoka has been out of action since her trilogy with Larissa Pacheco last November. Despite winning the first two fights with ease, Kayla Harrison suffered the first loss of her career last year. In the main event of PFL 10, she lost by unanimous decision, on the company’s maiden voyage on pay-per-view.

Nearly a year on from that loss, she’s slated to return against Julia Budd. The announcement was made earlier today by the PFL, with Kayla Harrison later confirming the fight on The MMA Hour. The former Judoka has spent the majority of her career at lightweight but will make the trip down to featherweight here.

However, Kayla Harrison isn’t worried about cutting the extra ten pounds or fighting the former Bellator champion. On The MMA Hour, she previewed her return against Julia Budd, while also stating that she plans to show the best version of herself thus far.

“I just decided to say f*ck it, and take this time and use it to my benefit,” Kayla Harrison stated on The MMA Hour announcing her return against Julia Budd. “Make no mistake, I’ve been in the gym every day. You can call anyone at the gym, ask anyone, for ten months Kayla’s head has been down and Kayla has been working on her craft and working on her soul.”

She continued, “…I’m back, but different. Same, but better.”

The announcement of Kayla Harrison vs. Julia Budd continues to build an exciting PFL 10 card. As always, the event will feature the end of the promotion’s playoffs, and determine this season’s champions.

What do you make of this fight announcement? Who do ya got? Kayla Harrison or Julia Budd?

All eyes are on Hurricane Lee as the once Category 5 hurricane continues to churn in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the storm gets ready to make a turn to the north later this week.

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When conservation biologist Jaime Ramos began the fieldwork for his doctoral studies on the elusive Azores bullfinch in 1991, one sound in the island forests excited him the most—the patter of a light drizzle. But there was no rain in sight. The sound was created by the falling fruit husks of the lily-of-the-valley tree as they landed on the leaves below. “It meant that the Azores bullfinch was nearby and it was de-husking the fruit to get to the seed,” says Ramos, of the University of Coimbra, in central Portugal. The sound helped Ramos locate the bird in the dense forest and observe its foraging behavior.

At that time, very little was known about this passerine bird endemic to São Miguel Island in the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal in the Atlantic. Ramos had some colleagues at the University of the Azores who were aware that this difficult-to-observe bird was restricted to a small patch of native forest in the vicinity of Pico de Vara, the highest point on São Miguel. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom had also been monitoring the bird and estimated the population size of the Azores bullfinch to be at an alarmingly critical level of around 100 breeding pairs.

Ramos’ doctorate was focused on getting a better understanding of the feeding, nesting and other behaviors of the bird. He went on to publish a 1995 study in Biological Conservation on the diet and habitat preferences of the Azores bullfinch, which became crucial for the bird’s conservation. Ramos’ work, and that of other researchers after him, helped show that the bird was a disperser of the spores of several native fern species and, hence, plays an important role in the natural regeneration of the forest.

At the time, the bird was in deep trouble. Following centuries of declining population, in 2005 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Azores bullfinch as “critically endangered.” This earned it the distressing epithet of “Europe’s most endangered passerine bird.” But since then, nearly two decades of conservation efforts focused on habitat restoration have helped the species make a promising recovery. And the comeback of the Azores bullfinch not only is a source of pride for the local community but also draws researchers and tourists from around the world who are interested in the bird and its conservation success.

Back in the 19th century, the chubby bird, known locally as priolo, was hunted down by farmers who considered it a pest in their orange orchards. (Flocks of the birds often ate the young buds of the tree.) Human activities, including agriculture and the commercial planting of non-native Japanese cedars used for buildings and boats, also led to the destruction of the bird’s natural habitat—a subtropical laurel forest. Furthermore, introduced plant species like the Australian cheesewood and the Chilean rhubarb spread across large swaths of land, edging out native vegetation and reducing food and habitat for the Azores bullfinch.

As the first person to formally study the ecology of the Azores bullfinch, Ramos made many observations that helped shape the conservation plan of this highly endangered bird. He found that for the majority of the year the bird feeds on the native plant species found in the forest. Ramos observed that the primary food of the bird in spring are the sugar-rich buds of the endemic Azorean holly. During autumn and winter, the spores and fronds of several native fern species form a large part of the bird’s diet. During winter, Ramos placed bird feeders on the outskirts of the forest to see if the bird would eat from them, but the effort failed, as the bullfinch showed no interest. “It has no other alternatives,” Ramos says. “Hence, it is confined to the area with native vegetation.”

Based on Ramos’ observations, habitat restoration emerged as the primary mode of preserving the Azores bullfinch. “Conservation efforts needed to be focused on two fronts,” says Ramos. “First, removing exotics and creating conditions that promote the growth of the native plant species, and then planting them. And second, slowly trying to increase the size of the forest in certain areas.”

Since 2003, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (known by its Portuguese acronym SPEA), has been leading a conservation program focused on habitat restoration. With funding from the European Union’s LIFE program and the Azores government, the nonprofit began a five-year project in collaboration with the São Miguel forestry department to improve the quality of the forest by planting native trees.

According to Azucena de la Cruz, a conservation biologist who co-leads all of SPEA’s Azores programs, the team quickly learned that they needed to plant native trees close together to prevent the entry of invasive plants. For this they would need a large number of saplings. So as part of a second five-year LIFE project they created a nursery to complement habitat restoration. Saplings of 25 native tree species—including the Azorean holly—and herbaceous plants are cultivated in the nursery. Over the past two decades, around 1,000 acres of laurel forest have been restored in the bird’s core habitat in the specially protected Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme area. The reserve was first earmarked for the bird’s conservation in 1999 and is currently safeguarded under both local and European legislation. More than 500,000 native trees have been planted in this area.

The increased availability of food and nesting habitat for the Azores bullfinch led to a gradual increase in the bird’s numbers. In 2010, with a population estimate of about 1,000 birds, IUCN downlisted the species to “endangered.” In 2016, the organization downlisted the bird again to “vulnerable.” The current population size of the Azores bullfinch is estimated to be around 1,300 individuals distributed across nearly 5,000 acres of suitable habitat in the Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme area.

“What we’ve been focused on is not just the number of individuals but also on the trend,” says de la Cruz. “The population trend has been stable for the last eight years.”

SPEA is now on the fourth five-year project funded by the EU’s LIFE program. This project has a much broader focus but also includes the conservation of the Azores bullfinch and its habitat.

Despite all the habitat restoration work so far, the bird does face some threats. Invasive mammals, like rodents, are known to feed on the eggs and fledglings of the Azores bullfinch. In areas that have been recently restored or are currently under restoration, the team has placed rodent-specific traps in an effort to control the invasives.

Another threat to the birds, albeit an indirect one, is the damage caused to recently restored areas by large numbers of people who hike or trail run through their habitat.

While weather is not a big concern now, Ramos notes things could change. “But no one can predict a catastrophic event like drought,” he says. “If you have a good habitat—both in terms of size and quality—the likelihood of these events having an impact decreases.”

The biggest challenge, however, is securing continued funding for the long-term habitat restoration and maintenance work. Knowing that the Azores wants to focus on nature tourism in the future, de la Cruz remains hopeful. “You cannot have nature tourism if you don’t preserve your biodiversity,” she says.

That’s why, alongside habitat restoration, SPEA also prioritized public outreach efforts. In 2007, the organization inaugurated an interpretation center for the bird, the Priolo Environmental Center. Seventy-two-year-old João Mendonça was one of the people who helped with its construction. “When I was younger, we didn’t think about the bird at all,” Mendonça says. “We only focused on our work. Now, everybody cares about the bird and wants to see it.”

Subsequently, the nonprofit developed a comprehensive education and awareness program for school students, customized to each age group. To date, more than 30,000 school students from the island have participated in the education program, which covers several environmental and conservation issues.

SPEA is seeing the impact of its outreach work. “People now feel a bit more connected to the bird, even though many have still not seen it,” de la Cruz says. “And if the conservation efforts stop, they would be concerned.”

Mendonça’s nephew Luis Pacheco leads tours at the environmental center. According to him, not only do school students from the island and tourists from mainland Portugal visit the center, but university students from as far away as California, Germany and Malta have also paid a visit.

“We feel so proud when people come from all over the world to see the bird,” Mendonça says.

De la Cruz agrees. Given the global despair about vanishing species, she wants the conservation success of this small bird to have a far-reaching impact. “We hope by hearing the story of the Azores bullfinch, people are inspired to adapt it to species in their own land,” she says.

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Anne is a writer, communications consultant, independent journalist, editor and photographer.