Welcome!
On this website, you will be able to find information about the Prosperando study tour and its organizing committee.Day 16: Terabits per second
Despite the home made Caipirinha of 'bar 10' last night, everyone woke up quite on time on this sunny Wednesday. At 9.30 we got in the bus to CPqD, where some of us wore the hideous ties that they bought yesterday, hoping for a reaction of the committee. After some joking they showed enough respect to dress properly.At CPqD, we got some very nice presentations about the organization and some projects they do. CPqD is the largest telecommunication and information technology company of South America; they started in 1972 as the R&D part of the PTT of Brazil. In 1998 they became an independent non-profit organization. Comparable to the Dutch TNO, they get some technological ideas and try to turn it into a product. Whenever it seems to get successful, a spin-off company is created to bring the product to the market. As soon as such a spin-off company makes some profit, it has to pay royalties for the product to CPqD. In addition to these profits CPqD gets funded by companies and the ministry of innovation.
The next two presentations reminded a lot of us to lectures about telecommunications. The first one was about optical communication, things like software defined radios, optical routers and DSP using ASICs. The second one was about wireless communication. They had developed a system to bring internet to rural areas using a kind of 4G network. In this system each user has its own receiver that turns the LTE signal to Wi-Fi.
After that, we were divided in two groups and we had a tour through some of the laboratories. The first lab we visited was testing the equipment for LTE networks in rural areas as explained above. The second lab was about glass fiber communication; one half of the room researched discrete devices like optical amplifiers, while the other half of the lab was about the whole picture. They tried to send as much information as possible over long distances using all kinds of modulation. Our excursion ended with another delicious all-you-can-eat buffet lunch in the company's restaurant.
We spent the afternoon in Campinas in the Portugal Park, which is a large lake with trees, tropical plants and birds. After we walked round the lake we enjoyed a nice 'suco' next to the entrance. In the evening we split up in a few groups. I went drinking and eating snacks with a small group. Some others went to the subway or to yet another buffet restaurant.
Written by Jeroen van Oorschot
written on: 03-08-2014
Day 15:Are you Sirius?
After some delicious freshly-squeezed orange juice, everybody got up in time to start the first full day in Campinas with a visit to the National Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). This center combines four national laboratories, of which we visited two. The first was the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), but as it's starting to get usual when visiting companies in Brazil, upon our arrival our badges weren't ready yet and our guide was still in a meeting. Luckily, there was a huge model of the compound, where some tried to find our location and tried to determine the purpose of some other buildings. One building clearly looked like a particle accelerator, which raised confusion, because we were already inside a different particle accelerator building.
When we entered LNLS, it immediately became clear to us that this is an impressive institution. This billion dollar machine operates 24/7, accelerating electrons to 99.9999% of the speed of light, with an exit energy of 1.37GeV. LNLS studies structural information of materials at atomic and molecular level. It is able to retrieve information about composition, coordination, bonds and arrangement in materials. In 12 parallel research stations, dipoles turn the electrons into radiation. This radiation is used in a wide variety of applications, such as chromatography, crystallography imaging, diffraction and absorption.
Our guide was a soil researcher and he stressed the importance of the device once more. LNLS is used to analyze soil and to create solutions to make it more suitable for growing crops or producing crops with better nutritional values. He also told us that a new synchrotron, named Sirius, was being built, able of approaching the speed of light even more with an exit energy of 3GeV, costing only one quarter of the current device.
The next laboratory on the list was the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LLNano). This micro fabrication lab uses lithography and etching techniques to produce sensors, thin films, labs-on-a-chip and microfluid structures. The main field of application is chemical engineering, mainly to reduce the size of existing systems. LLNano is able to produce some very nifty stuff, such as microscopic gears, THz filters, micro switches, micro pumps and micro lenses.
In the afternoon, there was time to visit the city center of Campinas. Except for one of us who missed the bus, everybody took the time to visit shops, get something to eat and take a look inside the Catedral Metropolitana. Some of us ended up in the audience of a street artist. He managed to turn R$2 into a bill of R$50, made me lay two eggs of which one hatched a chick and made a local girl believe that a plastic snake was able to bite her in the leg. After a short while, the artist found out that we were Hollandais and tried to communicate with us. Since neither of us speaks Portuguese, this was a no-go, but it was really strange to see that not one single person in the 60+ people audience was able to translate the artist's Portuguese into English. Eventually, instead of asking the audience for some money, he started repeating his tricks, so we walked away.
We continued our day in the Bosque do Jequitibá, a park with lions, hippopotami, tortoises, ara's and a tapir. To our surprise, entrance was free of charge. Mark ended up having an in-depth conversation with a Maracanã Parakeet and we discovered the Campinian equivalent of the Coati that harassed us in the past two weeks. It looks like the convolution of a squirrel and guinea pig, enlarged by a factor of two. Its name is still unknown to us, but it won't take long to discover it.
After a very cheap but tasty dinner, a completely insane taxi driver drove on the wrong side of the road and nearly got us killed to get us back to the hostel safe. Now it's time to see whether we can make Caipirinha's just as good as the Brazilians can.
Written by Tom van Nunen
written on: 03-08-2014
Recap Foz do Iguaçu
Compaired to Rio de Janeiro, Foz de Iguacu, which was our second stop for this trip, is just a little village. Founded at the end of the river Iguacu, from which the city gets its name, Foz de Iguacu is all about beautiful nature and a dam.Our visit here has shown us that the Dutch are not the only ones capable of taming water. It has made it impossible to be in awe of any other waterfall in the world ever again and for some of us it showed that the languagebarrier can work in quite some entertaining ways ("No we didn't order those two bowls of caipirinha." "Something in Portugese." "Ow ok.")
So far, the Prosperando trip has had some extremes in the sense of experiences including, but not limited to the waterfalls and the favela tour in Rio which have absolutely been the highlights of this trip so far.
At the time of writing this little summary I'm looking at the beautiful red sunset in the clear skies of Campinas, our next stop in this 3.5 week adventure.
Written by Bart Straten
written on: 03-08-2014
Blog day 14: Halfway there
The day started at Foz do Iguaçu. While some people took all the sleep they could get, Elles fortunately did not forget to retrieve her laundry at the local launderette. This launderette probably had a huge peak of Dutch customers over the last couple of days. Also some gadgets for the introduction week were bought at the local carnival shop.At 9:45 we gathered and checked out at the hostel, as the drivers of the small buses loaded our suitcases. However, they did not divide the load evenly between the buses. As we arrived at the airport, it turned out that a shock absorber of one of the buses had broken. Probably the bus had been overloaded. This, combined with the very effective speed bumps in Brazil, had proven to be too much for the bus.
One power outage later we might have found the reason for the weight limit on luggage. After our luggage was weighted there was no fancy Vanderlande system to handle it. Instead, a suitcase 'feut' had to take it all the way from the check-in to the cart bringing it to the plane. Turns out there are, apart from a certain participant, more 'feuten' involved in our journey than expected!
At 12:45 we lifted off, leaving Foz do Iguaçu behind with a final glimpse at the falls and the huge Iguaçu River. After a short flight of about 1.15 hours in a plane of Embraer (we will visit this company later on this study tour), during which we could watch, amongst others, some 'Bob Esponja' and enjoyed some turbulence, we arrived at Campinas.
At the luggage retrieval, we could watch the camera positioned at the luggage drop-off area on a screen, witnessing our luggage being thrown on the conveyor belt without any care. The luggage crew was not afraid to let the gravity do the work. Unfortunately an attempt to communicate with the luggage crew via a note on the conveyor belt failed.
When we proceeded to the exit, we couldn't find our bus driver. As the committee called him outside, suddenly some guy with a vague sign waiting next to us answered his phone. He turned out to be our bus driver.
Having arrived at our hostel, we all got divided into the rooms, dropped off our stuff, relaxed for some time. When we went out for dinner in different groups, we all ended up in the same bar/restaurant, where we concluded our day of traveling, enjoying drinks and live music.
Written by Mark Legters
written on: 30-07-2014
Day13:And the Oscar goes to...
A private bus, that is what was waiting for us in front of the hostel this morning. No more overpopulated city busses that, according to their driving, think they are participating in a video game. Our guide for the day was Marcello, who some of us unknowingly met on a good night out at the Zeppelin club in Foz do Iguaçu the day before. When we arrived at the Argentinian border, Marcello collected our documents and arranged that we may pass. The return of our passports was like the ceremony at the Oscars as Marcello called all our names out loud in his best pronounciation of our Dutch names and added a little joke.
In the park we were welcomed by a group of small furry animals. Although the falls should be the main attraction, it sometimes seemed that it were in fact the so-called Coatis who were the real attraction. At first they seemed funny and cute, but after a while we found out that they are more a nuisance than nice companions. Especially when they notice that you are carrying something to eat. Then, all of a sudden, you become the main Coati-attraction. Even to the point that some of them distract you, so another one can rob you from your food.
A beautiful trail trough the rich rainforest under a constant rainbow led us to the elevated pathways to the actual falls. The falls today were even more impressive than yesterday. Not everyone might agree with me on this though. The immense amount of water rushing by and flowing away underneath us gave us a refreshing shower. In the distance, the waterfalls disappeared in a vast cloud of mist from which a blanket of green trees covered the valley.
Down at the riverside we were confronted with the devastating forces that come hand in hand with the beauty. Only recently, the worst flood in the history of Brazil happened at the Iguaçu falls. Normally, the falls carry 1500 m3 of water per second, but last month this was 46300 m3. On the Argentinian side of the falls, serveral bridges and pathways were swept away by the roaring water. The Brazilian side of the river used to have an abseil installation, the remains of it were spread over the shore of the river and the adjacent rainforest.
The majority of our fellowship decided to take a boat tour all the way to the bottom of the waterfall. Completely soaked, they reappeared from the mist to go for a rollercoaster ride in the boat down the wild river. After disembarking, a short safari tour waited for them.
Unfortunately, no exotic animals were seen. It was however a pleasant way to dry up a little.
Others who decided not to join the boat tour further explored the rainforest and did see some exotic animals; some monkeys and a very big spider.
The day ended with a nice dinner and a pleasant sit next to the pool of the hostel where some were playing cards, some were drawing and I was writing this blog. Tomorrow is another exciting day when we will leave Foz do Iguaçu and will proceed our journey in Campinas.
Written by Edgar van Megen