How could one use computational modeling to apply a theory on the diffusion of matter as a reference for the analysis of biological, socioeconomic and ecological phenomena, and at the same time use this approach as a stimulus to interdisciplinary cooperation?

This task will be carried out by the new visiting professor of the IEA, engineer Luiz Bevilacqua, professor emeritus from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Engineering Graduation and Research of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE), and member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

He will develop his research project at the Institute for a year, beginning February 1. With his hiring, the IEA will once again count on a Brazilian visiting professor. This has been possible with a change in USP's legislation, which from 2011 to 2016 permitted the hiring of foreign researchers only.

Theoretical research

Bevilacqua's project is called "Complex processes of diffusion with applications in physical-chemical, socioeconomic and evolutionary-reactive phenomena. Motivation for the development of interdisciplinary cooperation". According to him, the proposal is based on the use of applied mathematical-computational models, "increasingly important for the simulation of certain phenomena coming mainly from the biological, socioeconomic and ecological areas, a range that demonstrates their importance for interdisciplinary convergence."

The central activity of the new visiting professor will be the deepening of the research on a new theory that he proposes for the representation of mass transport processes. Bevilacqua argues that the current theoretical models are incomplete, considering that this flow is unimodal, "however being plausible that in certain cases the process is bimodal."

The professor states that the stage reached in this theoretical research "opens great perspectives of deepening the theory and its applications in the modeling of physical and socioeconomic phenomena."

Due to these possible applications, he intends to count on the cooperation of USP's faculty and students to define and test the models in different areas of knowledge. Therefore, his proposal foresees the holding of seminars and discussions with the participation of small groups of stakeholders in each area.

The first activities will deal with three phenomena: capital flow, considering the presence of sources and sinks; population dynamics influenced by external factors; and epidemiology and infectious diseases.

Interdisciplinary cooperation

Bevilacqua will also lend his vast experience in academic management, and scientific and technological policy to stimulate interdisciplinary cooperation with the use of computational modeling. The tool for this will be the holding of seminars on:

• the spread of epidemics (dengue, malaria, etc.), taking the flow of infected and recovered humans into account;
• the population dynamics of endangered species;
• the diffusion of knowledge and information conveyed by traditional media.

He also foresees meetings on other topics to be proposed by USP's faculty and students interested in the project.

Book

In addition to the production of works to be published in scientific and engineering journals, Bevilacqua intends to prepare the production of the book "Applied Mathematical-Computational Models", which will be edited by the IEA. The work should have about 300 pages and count on contributions from at least 10 researchers.

The first chapter will be an introduction to computational mathematical modeling and the others will deal with specific problems explored in the seminars. Whenever possible, the emphasis will be on applications that can assist the solving of concrete problems. The idea is that the work should be written in such a way as to be accessible to graduate students willing to face new challenges.

Profile

Throughout his career, Bevilacqua has carried out innumerable professional activities besides teaching and researching in the academy, having participated in several engineering projects, research institutions and the coordination of scientific and technological policies, the governance of universities, and other research institutions and scientific societies.

Bevilacqua is a civil engineer graduated from the National School of Engineering of the University of Brazil (current UFRJ), having specialized in structures by the Sttugart College of Technology and holding a Ph.D. in applied mechanics from Stanford University.

He has already been dean of the Federal University of ABC, director of the COPPE, academic vice-president of PUC-SP, secretary general of the Ministry of Science and Technology, scientific director of FAPERJ and president of the Brazilian Space Agency.

Photo: Leonor Calasans/IEA-USP

The first world is concerned about food quality of their population, and is increasingly investing in research and public policies aimed at healthy eating and sustainable food production. In England, for example, eight leading universities have joined forces to launch the N8 Agrifood Programme, a project focused on the sustainability of supply chains and food health. English agro-ecologist Leslie Firbank, a professor at the University of Leeds and one of the scientists leading the N8 Agrifood, has visited the IEA to speak precisely about sustainability in agriculture, an issue that he heads next to the international program.

At the conference Can we achieve sustainable agriculture?, given on September 5, Firbank advocated a concept derived from the famous definition of the Brundtland Report. For the scientist, sustainability in agriculture must meet today's needs without compromising the needs of the future.

Agro-ecologist Leslie Firbank, from the University of Leeds

"This involves the production of biomass and fiber, animal husbandry, the health of farmers and consumers, as well as the financial needs of the productive chains, and also the maintenance and conservation of ecosystem services. But there is always the danger of leaving the track and forgetting that sustainability is also about looking at the needs of future generations," he said.

Future needs will depend on the natural capital that we conserve now, but the companies are not giving due respect to this assumption, Firbank showed. England faces a serious problem with land available for agriculture. Soil carbon has been reduced to drastic levels due to the intensive agricultural use for decades. "The soil is either incredibly dry or totally wet, until the crops get decimated," he said.

Soil and climate conditions have led Britain to become an importer of wheat, one of its main crops in the past. The region is also facing new diseases of their livestock. "But people do not give due weight to it and do not even know where food comes from or how it is produced. There is a mindset that if we do not produce, we can buy from anything from any other country that does," he said.

Expert in animal bioscience Helen Miller, also from the University of Leeds, took part in the debate, which has been moderated by Pablo Mariconda, a professor at USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), and coordinator of the IEA's Philosophy, History, and Sociology of Science and Technology Research Group.

Local solutions

Unlike agriculture in the decades from 1970 to 1990, with the domination of an equal model for all types of farming, agricultural production of the new millennium will be characterized by the differentiation and diversity thanks to precision agriculture, according to Firbank's belief.

Precision agriculture: the needs of a varied diet

For the specialist, precision agriculture will gain great vitality, as it allows directing production according to demand. "We can think of local solutions for local needs using local expertise. Precision farming allows contemplating the differentiation and diversity again, and thus producing exactly what we want with the least possible impact on the landscape," he said.

Therefore, agricultural activities will need funding to develop. "Without funding, few will have access to cutting edge technologies. The fertilizers are much more accurate. Robotic systems allow determining the ideal diet for each animal. But all this innovation requires money. Then there is the danger that only large rural businesses will survive, or those with money to invest."

In addition, the rural sector has changed due to its own natural, social and economic conditions, with the advent of global climate change, increasing urbanization and new behaviors. "What used to work 20 or 30 years ago is no longer a solution because society has different needs," he says.

Management of demand

Firbank has noted that food production in 2009 tripled in comparison to the 1960s and thus the world has no problem of production but of food distribution. Nevertheless, there are still many unmet needs for agriculture, and even then, we are pushing the limits of the carrying capacity of terrestrial systems.

"We still have an unresolved issue about whether we can live safely operating only in the same land space already used and if it will be able to meet everyone fairly. This does not have to do with agriculture only but also with industries and other sectors, and with how wealth is distributed on the planet," he said.

For the specialist, the agriculture of the future will have to face the challenge of food demand management, reducing losses in the field, transportation and storage. Moreover, the quality of food supply at affordable prices is a matter of political decision. "In England, we have food banks that markets and distributors put available to the public when the product is close to expire," he said.

Food security will also involve the strengthening of productive chains so that they are able to get along with production and price shocks. But not only that. Public policies should promote healthy eating.

"People do not know the origin of food anymore. Milk comes in bottles and meat is a supermarket package," says Firbank

"In Leeds, life expectancy in the poorest places is five times lower than in the richest places and this has a close relationship with the quality of food. In this case, it is not about access to food, but food education and concern over what children eat," he said.

Land value

The availability of farmland is a widely debated issue in England, because the habitat have been destroyed over time and their preservation has been neglected. "Now, without the EU funding, it is likely that very little of the natural habitat will be left in England," he believes.

English cities are expanding and territory planning values the urban land to the detriment of rural areas. "The mentality is that we can buy food from other countries which are agricultural exporters, such as Brazil. But around the world, quality agricultural land is increasingly being found in the cities."

The labor market in rural areas is also neglected, said Firbank. "There is a lack of human capital in the countryside. It is increasingly rare to find people with skills, and committed to food and agriculture in the area. Young people do not see the agricultural area as a valuable career. A newly formed biologist would rather work with genetics, life sciences and related careers because they find them more attractive. "

The N8 Agrifood Programme and other public policies in Europe have been trying to change that. "People in general do not value the countryside. For them, milk comes from bottles and meat is a supermarket package. We are trying to get over this and one of the initiatives is Farm Sunday, an annual event in which hundreds of farms open their gates to the public and students can see how a farm is. Last year, 500,000 people attended the event," he said.

More autonomous cities

Community garden of USP's School of Public Health (above). Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, disabled in 2008 for community and leisure horticulture (below).

Facing the challenges, it is necessary to encourage the autonomy of cities as to the production of food, though many cities do not have space to produce food for everyone. "This is not about commodities. But instead of importing everything, we should encourage the production of vegetables and fruits for local consumption. In Leeds we do not have enough space to produce food for everyone. While it is desirable, I do not see urban agriculture as a political solution to food security problems," he says.

However, one can think of urban agriculture as an education movement, food culture and socialization more than one route of food supply. "We still have little statistics and it seems that urban agriculture still works more like a hobby or a supplement to the food that people already have. At the University of Leeds we have a vegetable garden as part of a research project. The place is really nice and at harvest times anyone can go there and get what they want. The area is twice this room here (IEA Events Room). But putting it in a broader context, would it be enough to feed all the people of the university?," asked Firbank.

Professor Thais Mauad, from USP's School of Medicine (FM), responsible for the community garden project of USP's School of Public Health (FSP) and coordinator of the IEA's Study Group on Urban Agriculture, said that the urban gardens have indeed been fulfilling an important social role in Brazil.

"This is not to provide food in quantity for everyone, although many poor communities now have access to healthy and cheap food thanks to several projects of urban gardens. In fact, community gardens have been fulfilling a relevant social and educational role to all these populations," she said.

Photos: Pixabay; Leonor Calasans; Sylvia Miguel

Hideo Iwasaki presents papers on the interface between science and art during the biology workshop.

Synthetic biology is a new approach to bioengineering. It involves modeling and the construction of organisms at the molecular scale, or the redesign of parts, devices or natural biological systems. It is a technology that seeks specific objectives through an intentional design. Instead of evolutionary pressures, the world of the living beings becomes a product of design choices. Through a fast progress, it has generated expectations to produce new biological applications in medicine, agribusiness, genomics, energy and other areas.

"It is a field that offers a new insight on how to relate to life. Its rapid advancement has resulted in many scientific and philosophical debates because it produces advances that lead to some exaggerations. Therefore, synthetic biology causes interest in some designers and artists involved in biotechnology," said biologist and artist Hideo Iwasaki, from the Waseda University, at the Biology Workshop of the second day of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA).

Grossmann and Iwasaki debating.

Martin Grossmann, former director of the IEA-USP and member of the Senior Committee for the ICA, chaired the debates of Iwasaki's presentation and drew attention to the unusual union between biology and art. According to Grossmann, Iwasaki has innovated with the presented theme, a mix of science, technology and design.

Coordinator of the Laboratory for Molecular Cell Network & Biomedia Art at Waseda University, Iwasaki talked about the work of the Synthetics Aesthetics, an experimental project run by the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University. In 2010 the most renowned synthetic biologists, artists and social scientists gathered to explore collaborations focused on the conception, construction and understanding of the living world.

At the time, Iwasaki developed the project "Biogenic Timestamp" in partnership with Oron Catts, from the Aalto University of Helsinki. The work was defined by the microbiologist as a "critique to the hype of synthetic biology, a provocation on the link between the scale of geological time and the biological one."

They worked with tissue culture from cyanobacteria, a group of bacteria that obtains energy by photosynthesis and is among the most primitive forms of life. The community was applied to a computer board, which has undergone the action of these organisms to date. The work was exhibited in Austria and Japan. According to the creators, the experiment shows that the bacteria are able to internalize our technologies and creations, and modify them as they please.

Engineering principles applied to the complexity of living systems: biology transformed into a new design material.

Another project, no less surreal by Western standards, is inspired by a relatively ancient habit in Japan, which is to create monuments in memory of insects, snails, plants, various objects and even the spirit of sperms.

Iwasaki showed that in some medical and research institutions, such as the Department of Human Sciences at the Waseda University, there is the habit of annual celebrations held in honor of animals used in experiments. In zoos there are funeral ceremonies for animals that have died. In 1971 a monument was created to honor the spirit of sperms.

Iwasaki thought of a memorial for artificial cells. "I am a microbiologist, so I can finally pray for the bacteria we use in experiments," he compared.

“The memorial service for synthetic cells” is the name of the technical and artistic work by Iwasaki, which will be displayed during the Kenpoku Art Festival 2016, a great show that dialogues with nature and art, incorporating science and technology. It is held in six cities in the northern Ibaraki Prefecture.

According to Iwasaki, his work is scientifically "stimulating, because it forces to think what life is in fact." The two projects that the scientist presented at the workshop seem to handle different things, but they actually "deal with the issue of time and how humans are involved with life," he said.

He cited a paper on the establishment of a bacterial cell from a chemically synthesized genome. "There is no common sense among scientists to answer if it is a living organism or a type of synthetic life. So I see that each one's subjective criterion of what life is is required for this kind of judgment," he added.

Photos: IAR/Nagoya

syntheticaesthetics.org

The seminar will discuss trends in the profile of engineers recruited by companies and research institutes in Brazil, and ongoing innovations in engineering education to meet the demand for this type of professional.

The exhibition will be in charge of Claudio Haddad, President of the Institute of Education and Research (Insper), and José Roberto Cardoso, Director of the Polytechnic School (Poli) of USP. The discussant will be Roberto Lobo, former Rector and current President of Lobo Institute for Development of Education, Science and Technology. Coordination will be on Mário Salerno, General Coordinator of the OIC.

Participants

Claudio Haddad is the President of the Institute of Education and Research (Insper) and of the Ibmec Group Council. Member of the Board of Directors of BM & FBovespa, Ideal Invest S.A., Unibanco Institute and Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. Also a member of the Visiting Committee of Harvard Business School and chairman of Brazil Harvard Office's Council and of David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

José Roberto Cardoso is Professor and Director of Poli and Coordinator of the Laboratory of Applied Electromagnetism (LMAG) and of the Technologic Council of the Engineers' Union of São Paulo (Seesp). He is one of the founders of the Brazilian Society of Electromagnetism (SBMAG), of which he has been President for two terms.

Roberto Lobo is Managing Partner at Lobo & Associates Consulting and Participation and President of the Lobo Institute for Development of Education, Science and Technology.  He was USP's Rector from 1990 to 1993 and Director of the Institute of Chemistry and Physics of São Carlos, also an USP campus, of the Brazilian Center for Physic Researches and of CNPq.

Mário Salerno is Professor at the Department of Production Engineering of Poli.  He has specialized in Technology Innovation and Development at the University of Sussex, and conducted research at Politecnico de Milan, and at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (LATTS-ENPC). He has been Director of Industrial Development at ABDI and Director of Sector Studies of the Ipea.