Technology Developed to Control Microbial Communities in Activated Sludge at Nitrogen Removal Treatment Plants

Kyoto, Japan -- For more than two decades, silicon carbide -- SiC -- has been promoted as the key to developing extreme-environment electronics. Yet despite its promise, the field has remained stuck at the stage of basic research, so far failing to result in the development of practical devices. Now, a team of researchers at Kyoto University has set about to change that.

"We believe the lack of development is because the research community has been trying to apply silicon-era thinking to a fundamentally different material," says first author Mitsuaki Kaneko.

The team focused on junction field-effect transistors, also known as JFETs. Previous research has suggested that complementary JFETs, based on SiC JFETs, can be applied to low-power integrated circuits for operation in extreme environments. However, the JFETs that the researchers created previously -- which had conventional top-gate structures fabricated in semi-insulating SiC substrates -- suffered from low controllability and large leakage currents at high temperatures. This motivated the team to set their sights on solving these two issues, which they knew would be essential for practical use.

Researchers from Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology & Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India, have developed and experimentally evaluated a filament extrusion system for converting waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into filament suitable for fused filament fabrication 3D printing. The study demonstrates a practical route for giving discarded PET a second life as a material for additive manufacturing.

The recycled PET filament was prepared from the post-consumer PET waste using the developed extrusion system. For reference material, PLA pellets were also taken to produce filament. The resulting filaments were then used to produce 3D printed specimens for mechanical testing.

The recycled PET specimens demonstrated competitive mechanical performance compared with PLA, highlighting the potential of recycled PET as a feedstock for filament-based 3D printing.

OUS students developed a hands-on supply chain workshop using LEGO bricks to introduce high school students to Toyota’s Lean concepts, including Kanban, Kaizen, and waste reduction. Through a competitive manufacturing simulation, participants experienced how reducing inventory, improving communication, and responding to demand can increase supply chain efficiency. The workshop also gave OUS students an opportunity to translate business theory into an engaging learning experience for the next generation.

A new purple cooling fabric developed by Chinese and Australian researchers could help people stay cooler during scorching summer days without having to resort to wearing white.

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In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers conducted a series of CESM2 ensemble simulations under SSP2-4.5 to examine the impact of marine cloud brightening (MCB) on terrestrial drought. By injecting sea salt aerosols over certain subtropical ocean regions, they found that MCB could produce about 0.9°C global cooling and mitigate global land drying trend via reduced potential evapotranspiration by 2100 relative to that of SSP2-4.5. However, regional differences in drought response to MCB are evident, indicating the underlying complexity of terrestrial hydrological responses to artificial climate intervention. It sheds new light on the potential and risks of solar geoengineering for drought mitigation.

A Nankai University team designed azaphenanthrene-fused non-fullerene acceptors and tuned their central cores with fluorine, chlorine, or bromine. Increasing halogen size progressively enhanced crystallinity and packing order. The brominated acceptor CHNBr achieved a fill factor of 78.84%, enabling binary organic solar cells to exceed 20% power conversion efficiency.