EU-Projects at the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
Current projects
CA22150 - Comparative Research on the Executive Triangle in Europe (CoREx)
Description, CoREx creates a unique pan-European network of researchers studying the relationships of executive politicians, top civil servants, and ministerial advisers (‘the executive triangle’) from an internationally comparative perspective. These three actors and their mutual relationships significantly shape policymaking. Their capacity to solve problems and to make legitimate decisions are at the core of democratic governance. While pressing contemporary policy problems require professional top civil service competence, executive politicians demand political advice from personally trusted individuals to navigate their increasingly polarized and mediatized environments. CoREx addresses this tension between professional competence and political craft by taking a system-perspective on the executive triangle. Through pan-European networking and knowledge sharing across all regions in Europe, it develops a common conceptual and methodological framework revolving around different dimensions of politicization to collect comparative data from across Europe. Thereby, CoREx bridges currently disconnected research on the top civil service and ministerial advisers, as well as disparities in geographical coverage and research capacities. CoREx will generate comparative datasets and analyses on the institutional set-up, career backgrounds, roles and interactions in policymaking, and accountability and transparency of the executive triangle across regions and over time. In an innovative way, CoREx will provide systematic comparative knowledge about trends, causes, and consequences of different configurations of the executive triangle. CoREx contributes to a better understanding of democratic governance in times of increasing political polarization and populist politics. The unprecedented results will be relevant for the scientific community, stakeholders, and the public at large., Action keywords, top civil servants - ministerial advisers - politicization - comparative public administration - policymaking
MEDICODE - The Medial Frontal Cortex in Cognitive Control and Decision Making: Anatomy, Connectivity, Representations, Causal Contributions
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIAL FRONTAL CORTEX IN COGNITIVE CONTROL AND DECISION-MAKING: ANATOMY, CONNECTIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, CAUSALITY, Using cognitive control, people flexibly adapt their behaviour to achieve their goals of action in a changing world. Despite intensive research, there is still no overarching understanding of the mechanisms of cognitive control and its underlying main structure, the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC). This is due to the insufficient consideration of the neuroanatomy of the pMFC, its subregions and individual variability, the low sensitivity of group studies, the scarcity of causal evidence in humans, and the use of diverse research methods and paradigms in heterogeneous studies, which makes it difficult to differentiate general principles of cognitive control from study-specific idiosyncrasies. The project aims to solve these problems with two completely new approaches:, A) So-called dense sampling, the comprehensive collection of behavioural, imaging, EEG, eye movement and peripheral physiological data in multiple studies of the same subject as they perform cognitive control demanding tasks, allows variables of cognitive control to be quantified directly or via computer modelling. Multivariate analysis procedures are used to identify general as well as task- and modality-specific representations of these variables and to create a functional mapping of the subregions of the pMFC. The basic idea is that general principles of cognitive control over tasks and context should generalise and always be represented in a similar way., B) The new non-invasive brain stimulation with transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) allows influencing neuronal activity with unprecedented spatial resolution. In combination with EEG and imaging, tFUS will reveal the necessity of sub-areas of the pMFC and some sub-cortical network partners for cognitive control., In the medium term, this project will open new avenues for studying individual differences and pathological changes in cognitive control., This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101018805).
PETAL - Positron Emission Tomography for Agriculture and Life
Um die Ernährungssicherheit zu garantieren, muss die Getreideproduktion dem Bedarf der wachsenden Bevölkerung und der Nachfrage nach Futtermitteln und Biotreibstoffen angepasst sein. Eine der derzeitigen Herausforderungen liegt im Klimawandel. Er verursacht im Getreide abiotischen und biotischen Stress, was sich auf Wachstum und Ertrag auswirkt. Mithilfe von Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie wird das EU-finanzierte Projekt PETAL frühe Veränderungen im CO2-Stoffwechsel und Wassertransport im Weizen messen, die von Stress verursacht werden. Die im Projekt entstehenden einzigartigen Datensätze werden analysiert und daraus neue messbare Größen bestimmt, die sich in frühen Phasen der Pflanzenentwicklung aufgrund von Stress verändern. Anschließend soll daraus eine Plattform entwickelt werden, die der Landwirtschaft Dienste für eine frühzeitige Analyse des Weizenwachstums bietet.
Second Language Learning at School for all Teenagers (SLS4Teens)
Im Rahmen des Projekts SLS4Teens sollen Lehrkräfte innovative Methoden für das Lehren und Lernen von Fremd- und Zweitsprachen kennenlernen und im eigenen Unterricht erproben. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt auf dem Ziel, Sprachlernende für die mündliche Konversation schneller und besser zu befähigen und zu ermutigen. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen werden 50 aktive Sprachlehrer (30 Lehrer für Englisch als Fremdsprache und 20 Zweitsprachenlehrer für Schüler mit Migrationshintergrund) und 25 angehende Lehrer der fünf Partneruniversitäten (Angers und Nantes in Frankreich, Extremadura in Spanien, Parma in Italien, Magdeburg in Deutschland) im Rahmen eines Online-Fortbildungskurses und vor Ort-Schulungen über zwei Jahre hinweg ausgebildet. Der Effekt dieser Maßnahmen wird evaluiert, und alle Materialien stehen später Open-Access Ausbildungsstätten zur Verfügung.
Development of Financial Autonomy of Universities in the Kyrgyz Republic
DEFA unterstützt 10 kirgisische Hochschulen dabei, neue Wege des hochschulautonomen Selbstmanagements zu gehen. In Kooperation mit dem zuständigen Bildungs- und Wissenschaftsministerium werden neue Modi des Finanzmanagements erprobt und verstetigt. Gegenstand ist zudem die Weiterentwicklung der nationalen Regularien für das Selbstmanagement der Hochschulen im Land.
Jean Monnet Chair in Interactive Multilevel Democracy in Europe
The, Jean Monnet Chair, in, Interactive Multilevel Democracy in Europe, takes a forward-looking approach to the timely issue of democratic participation in the EU system. In face of substantive democratic challenges on the EU- level and in the member states, the JMC contributes to the theoretical understanding, the work of policymakers, and the hands-on engagement of citizens. IMUDE promotes three key objectives. First, innovative teaching ap- proaches and IMUDE-related content enhance excellence, interdisciplinary and internationality in teaching. Meth- odologically, the JMC builds on the recent reforms of a BA and MA in European Studies and formulates concrete improvements to boost the quality and scope of the programmes; an additional vocational training module comple- ments the efforts. Second, research on the conditions for active citizenship in the EU boundary-crossing democracy will produce tangible research outputs on the guiding theme. Starting points are publications which form the scien- tific canvass on which to analyse recent democratisation and participatory initiatives, and to offer hands-on guid- ance for practitioners. Third, the JMC will develop formats for public debate to establish a regular interactive dia- logue between academia, policy-makers and citizens. The third-mission activities that open the university to a wider public are of extreme relevance in face of increasing anti-democratic and anti-EU voting behaviour. To guarantee a sustainable impact, the JMC a) builds on a firm background of prior work, b) formulates concrete projects that invest into people, structures and instruments, c) links the three focal points to mutually advance the underpinning key objectives. IMUDE as lead theme is therefore not only a topic that is taken up in teaching, re- search and outreach but the Jean Monnet Chair itself is dedicated to the ideal of a more interactive multilevel democratic approach.
BitTheSpectrum - Augmented and Virtual Reality Technologies to Boost Literary and Social Emotion Skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder Students
Das BITTHESPECTRUM-Projekt zielt darauf ab, die Erfahrung und die Fähigkeiten von Experten für neue Technologien und Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) zusammenzubringen, um die Qualität des Lehr- Lernprozesses für Schüler dieser Zielgruppe zu verbessern. Dieses Ziel folgt dem europäischen Vorschlag für eine "Empfehlung des Rates" über qualitativ hochwertige frühkindliche Bildungs- und Betreuungssysteme, die als eine der fünf Schlüsselkomponenten vorgesehen ist: "Ausbildung und Arbeitsbedingungen des, für die frühkindliche Bildung und Betreuung zuständigen, Personals"., Um dieses Hauptziel zu erreichen, wurden folgende Ziele definiert:, 1. Verbesserung der Qualität des Bildungs- und Betreuungsprozesses des Personals, das mit Menschen mit ASD arbeitet, 2. Bereitstellung innovativer und geeigneter Werkzeuge (AR/VR) für Lehrer, Ausbilder und andere Mitarbeiter, um das Ziel 1 zu erreichen., 3. Verbesserung der Qualität des Lernprozesses von Menschen mit ASD in Bezug auf Lese- und Schreibfähigkeiten und soziale Emotionen, 4. Verbesserung der Qualität der inklusiven Berufsbildung in den beteiligten Ländern, 5. Verstärkung der Zusammenarbeit zwischen verschiedenen europäischen Einrichtungen, die im Bereich der inklusiven Bildung und der Technologieentwicklung arbeiten
Completed projects
New approaches in the development of Hypoallergenic implant material in orthopedics: steps to personalised medicine
Die Entwicklung von hypoallergenen Materialien für Endoprothesen steht im Mittelpunkt des am, 01.08.2013, gestarteten Projekts HypOrth. Das Projekt, das von, Prof. Christoph H. Lohmann (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg) koordiniert wird, verfolgt dabei zwei Ziele: Zum einen werden die Ursachen für Komplikationen, vor allem immunologische Abwehrreaktionen und Infektionen, ergründet. Zum anderen werden, basierend auf diesen Erkenntnissen, neuartige orthopädische Implantate mit verbesserter Biokompatibilität entwickelt., Die Zusammenarbeit von Forschung und Wirtschaft ist für dieses Projekt ganz wesentlich. So setzt sich das Konsortium von HypOrth aus Forschungs-Einrichtungen aus Deutschland (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg), Estland (Universität Tartu), Polen (Instytut Obróbki Plastycznej, Metal Forming Institute, Posen), Ungarn (Ungarische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Budapest) und Dänemark (Dänishes Technologieinstitut, Zentrum für Chemie und Biotechnologie, Aahrus), sowie aus Wirtschaftspartnern aus Spanien (Progenika, Derio Vizcaya) und der Schweiz (Mathys AG, Bettlach) zusammen.
IMAILE - Innovative Methods for Award Procedure of ICT Learning in Europe
Entwicklung einer neuen Generation einer "persönlichen Lernumgebung", Das Ziel des IMAILE-Projektes ist die Entwicklung einer neuen Generation einer "persönlichen Lernumgebung" im Primar- und Sekundarbereich und hier insbesondere am Beispiel der sog. MINT-Fächer (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik). Hierbei sollen sowohl die unterschiedlichen individuellen Lernstile von Schülerinnen und Schülernaber auch der Zugriff über verschiedenste technische Geräte (Bring-Your-Own-Device)berücksichtigt werden., Die Entwicklung einer solchen Umgebung wird im Rahmen des von der Europäischen Kommission mit 4,6 Mio Euro geförderten Projektes unter Verwendung des Pre-Commercial-Procurement-Verfahrens (PCP) ausgeschrieben. Zu den Aufgabenschwerpunkten der OVGUgehört die Mitarbeit an der Vorbereitung und Durchführung der vorkommerziellen Ausschreibungder personalisierten Lernumgebung. Durch die Mitarbeit kann Sachsen-Anhalt Einfluss auf die Leistungsbeschreibung nehmen, um so z. B. die Interessen des Bildungssystems Sachsen-Anhalts mit seinen föderalen Strukturen abzubilden und einfließen zulassen., Koordiniert wird das Projekt durch die schwedische Kommune Halmstad., Es sind zehn Partner aus sieben europäischen Ländern beteiligt.
Gannet 53
A two-part, multicentre, international phase I and II trial assessing the safety ans efficacy of the Hsp90 inhibitor ganetesip in combination with paclitaxel weekly in women with platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer with stabilised mutant p53.
rBirth, Brain Imaging Return to Health
Extended lifespan is a new and permanent feature of human life globally. Ageing is accompanied by cognitive decline and greater risk of depression and anxiety. At the cellular level, diminished birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) contributes to cognitive decline and increased depressive and anxiety disorders that are associated with ageing., The r BIRTH consortium is a, Marie Curie Initial Training Network, that gathers experts on molecular mechanisms of age-associated pathologies including neurodegeneration and depression. They work together to identify stress-regulated molecules provoking neuronal death and hindering neurogenesis, and monitor the consequences of these processes in human brain. We predict that smart-targeting of stress signaling will act synergistically to improve brain function in depressive disorders and ageing., The work is funded by the European Commission (FP7) under the sub-programme PEOPLE (Marie Curie Actions). 16, early stage researchers, will be trained in the topics of the programme i.e. molecular imaging (MRI), proteomics, immunotechnology, high content screening, molecular neuroscience, neuropharmacology and patient studies. The training is provided by seven universities, two private companies and one non-profit research organisation from 7 European countries.
INDIREA - Individualised Diagnostics and Rehabilitation of Attention
We propose a training network based around a linked set of research projects which attempt to improve the diagnosis and rehabilitation of neuropsychological disorders of attention, with each project linked to an external industrial partner in order to commercialise emerging diagnostic and rehabilitation procedures. New diagnostic procedures will link clinical measures of attentional disorders to a detailed mathematical account, which can in turn be linked to computational models of neuronal function. These behavioural measures will be integrated with brain imaging indices (using fMRI, EEG, MEG) to explain attentional disorders at a neural as well as a functional level. The emerging diagnostic procedures will be used to target individualised rehabilitation for patients, assessing effects of direct brain stimulation, EEG-based biofeedback, cognitive training of attention, and drug intervention. Each project will operate across both academic and industrial partners in the network, giving a unique commercial orientation to the training. Overall the project will advance neuropsychological diagnostics and rehabilitation, while giving trainees state-of-the-art inter-disciplinary research and entrepreneurial skills.
GLAMURS - Green Lifestyles, Alternative Models and Upscaling Regional Sustainability
Das EU-Projekt GLAMURS untersucht Hindernisse und Perspektiven für die Förderung der Nachhaltigkeit und ökologischer Wirtschaft in Europa. Um den Wandel zu einem "grüneren" Europa zu unterstützen und zu beschleunigen werden mehrere Wege aufgezeigt. Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen aus Psychologie, Ökonomie, Politik- und Umweltwissenschaften entwickeln im Austausch mit Akteur*innen vor Ort Theorien und Modelle zur Identifikation von Hindernissen und Perspektiven im Prozess der Transformation zu nachhaltigen Lebensstilen und Wirtschaftsformen. Untersucht werden individuelle und gesellschaftliche Hindernisse in Wechselwirkung mit regionalen Bedingungen. Dazu werden sieben Fallregionen in verschiedenen EU-Ländern genauer untersucht (z.B. Galizien, Altmark, Südtirol)., Die Forschung wird politische Entscheidungsträger*innen und Akteur*innen auf der europäischen und regionalen Ebene involvieren, um die Ziele der Europe-2020-Strategie und der Ressourceneffizienzinitiative zu erreichen. Das Projekt wird dazu beitragen, politische Strategien zu entwickeln, die den Wandlungsprozess in Europa unterstützen.
Miniature Insect Model for Active Learning (MINIMAL)
Biology provides the inspiration for a vision of small low-power devices that are able to learn rapidly and autonomously about environmental contingencies, enabling prediction an adaptive anticipatory action. Larval Drosophila have fewer than 10,000 neurons, yet express a variety of complex orientation and learning behaviours, including non-trivial anticipatory actions requiring context-dependent evaluation of the value of learned cues. Current computational learning theory cannot fully account for or replicate these capacities. We aim to develop a new foundation for understanding natural learning by developing a complete multilevel model of learning in larvae. Our aims are: (1) to analyse at a fine scale how larval olfactory behaviour is controlled and altered by associative conditioning, linked to agent-based models that ground learning capabilities in ongoing sensorimotor control; (2) to build one-to-one computational neural models that can be validated by exploiting the recent expansion of the Drosophila neurogenetic toolkit to gain unprecedented ability to characterise and manipulate neural circuits during unconstrained behaviour; (3) to derive from these models novel, generalisable algorithms and circuit architectures that can be used to enhance the learning and anticipatory capabilities of machines.
HiMR - Ultra-High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
The High field Magnetic Resonance (HiMR) Initial Training Network aims to train the future leaders of academic and industrial research in the fundamental science and novel applications of ultra-high field (UHF) in vivo magnetic resonance (MR), in order to address an increasing and currently unmet demand from academia and industry for such specialists. The highly complex and multi-faceted nature of UHF MR means that excellent training can only be provided by immersing ESRs in an environment that integrates different research areas, sectors and groups., The HiMR ITN is centred on a cutting edge, multidisciplinary research program that exploits the complementarities of the participants. This research programme is organised into four themes each focused on a crucial area of development of UHF. The first focuses on improved structural imaging, advancing our understanding of the origins of contrast in MRI scans and developing non-invasive biomarkers for multiple sclerosis. The second theme is centred upon exploiting UHF to develop ultra-high resolution functional MRI (fMRI) which will be very important in basic neuroscience research. It also aims to make fMRI more quantitative, thus encouraging its uptake in the clinic. The third theme aims to exploit the enhanced sensitivity of MR spectroscopy (MRS) at UHF in developing highly specific biomarkers. The final theme will develop novel hardware for both research and in the clinic, and methods of monitoring and correcting motion which limits in-vivo MR resolution. Finally the HiMR ITN will provide a unique opportunity to measure safety outcomes over a large group of workers., The interdisciplinary and intersectoral training program will provide a platform for training ESRs to become specialists in UHF MR, whilst also furnishing them with experience of a broad range of work environments, experimental techniques and theoretical knowledge relevant to the full range of in vivo MR.
COINVENT - Concept Invention Theory
Kreative Computer finden neue Ideen, Kombinatorische Kreativität ist die Fähigkeit, neue Ideen durch eine überraschende Kombination und Vermischung bekannter Ideen zu finden. Diese Art von Kreativität mit Computern zu realisieren oder zu simulieren ist eine große Herausforderung. Eine besondere Schwierigkeit besteht darin, Algorithmen zu entwickeln, die den Wert neu geschaffener Ideen bewerten., In COINVENT werden wir eine formale Theorie der Begriffserfindung entwickeln, die Einsichten aus der Kognitionswissenschaft und der Künstlichen Intelligenz verbindet. Wesentlicher Bestandteil wird eine mathematische Theorie der Begriffe sein, welche als Fundament für Fauconniers und Turners Theorie der Begriffsverschmelzung (conceptual blending) dienen kann. Denn obgleich diese Art von Begriffsverschmelzung erfolgreich in der Beschreibung kombinatorischer Kreativität in diversen Bereichen angewandt wurde, ist sie wegen des Fehlens einer hinreichend präzisen mathematischen Charakterisierung kaum zur Entwicklung von kreativen Computersystemen genutzt worden., Der zu entwickelnde Prototyp eines autonomen kreativen Computersystems wird in zwei Bereichen durch Menschen evaluiert werden, in der Mathematik und in der Musik. Die Ergebnisse des Projektes werden neue wissenschaftliche Einblicke in die Natur der Kreativität erlauben und es werden die Grundlagen für eine Fortentwicklung autonomer kreativer Computersysteme gelegt.
ELECON - Electricity Consumption Analysis to Promote Energy Efficiency Considering Demand Response and Non-technical Losses
Eine zeitnahe und erfolgreiche Konzeptionierung und Umsetzung eines Smart Grids, das eine intelligente Vernetzung aller Akteure im elektrischen Versorgungsnetz durch innovative Kommunikationstechnologien bedeutet, erfordert eine starke Zusammenarbeit der weltweiten Kompetenzen und die Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses. Innerhalb des IRSES – ELECON Projekt wird speziell die Zusammenarbeit junger, europäischer und brasilianischer Wissenschaftlicher gefördert. Im Vordergrund der Untersuchungen stehen eine Potentialanalyse und Umsetzungskriterien für ein aktives Lastmanagement und die Identifikation der nichttechnischen Verluste. Weiterhin wird eine innovative Kommunikationsinfrastruktur mit angepassten dezentralen Modellen thematisiert, da sie eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die technische Realisierung des Smart Grids darstellen. Das ELECON – Projekt hat im Einzelnen folgende Ziele:, Konsolidierung eines internationalen Netzwerks von wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen zwischen der EU und Brasilien, Nutzung von modernen Methoden und innovative Techniken zur Analyse des Stromverbrauchs und die Förderung der Energieeffizienz, Erwerb und Austausch von wissenschaftlichem Know-how zwischen der EU und Brasilien, Durchführung von Benchmark-Studien mit realen Daten, Etablierung einer starken Basis für zukünftige, langfristige Kooperationen., Die EU ist in einer guten Position, die Übermittlung des konsolidierten Fachwissens im Bereich der Energietechnik international zu fördern und somit weltweit schnelle, effektive Veränderungen in diesem Bereich voranzutreiben. Brasilien ist ein sehr wichtiger Partner mit einzigartigen Netzstrukturen und Erfahrungen im Bereich der Energietechnik. Das komplementäre Know-how und das hohe wissenschaftlichen Niveau, das durch das Austauschprogramm unterstützt wird, werden zu qualitativ hochwertigen Ergebnisse führen und die Grundlage für eine dauerhafte Zusammenarbeit schaffen.
IRSES-ELECON: Internationale Vernetzung unterstützt die Smart Grid Entwicklung
Eine zeitnahe und erfolgreiche Konzeptionierung und Umsetzung eines Smart Grids, das eine intelligente Vernetzung aller Akteure im elektrischen Versorgungsnetz durch innovative Kommunikationstechnologien bedeutet, erfordert eine starke Zusammenarbeit der weltweiten Kompetenzen und die Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses. Innerhalb des IRSES ELECON Projekt wird speziell die Zusammenarbeit junger, europäischer und brasilianischer Wissenschaftlicher gefördert. Im Vordergrund der Untersuchungen stehen eine Potentialanalyse und Umsetzungskriterien für ein aktives Lastmanagement und die Identifikation der nichttechnischen Verluste. Weiterhin wird eine innovative Kommunikationsinfrastruktur mit angepassten dezentralen Modellen thematisiert, da sie eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die technische Realisierung des Smart Grids darstellen. Das ELECON Projekt hat im Einzelnen folgende Ziele:, o Konsolidierung eines internationalen Netzwerks von wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen zwischen der EU und Brasilien, o Nutzung von modernen Methoden und innovative Techniken zur Analyse des Stromverbrauchs und die Förderung der Energieeffizienz, o Erwerb und Austausch von wissenschaftlichem Know-how zwischen der EU und Brasilien, o Durchführung von Benchmark-Studien mit realen Daten, o Etablierung einer starken Basis für zukünftige, langfristige Kooperationen., Die EU ist in einer guten Position, die Übermittlung des konsolidierten Fachwissens im Bereich der Energietechnik international zu fördern und somit weltweit schnelle, effektive Veränderungen in diesem Bereich voranzutreiben. Brasilien ist ein sehr wichtiger Partner mit einzigartigen Netzstrukturen und Erfahrungen im Bereich der Energietechnik. Das komplementäre Know-how und das hohe wissenschaftlichen Niveau, das durch das Austauschprogramm unterstützt wird, werden zu qualitativ hochwertigen Ergebnisse führen und die Grundlage für eine dauerhafte Zusammenarbeit schaffen.
EUTRAF: Ätiologie-basierte Mechanismen von Vorhofflimmern (WP3)
Die Studie wird im Rahmen eines EU-Projektes: EUTRAF (European Network for Translational Research in Atrial Fibrillation) durchgeführt. Das Ziel des Projektes ist die Aufklärung der Mechanismen der Entstehung des Vorhofflimmerns, die Identifikation der klinisch relevanten Biomarkern und die Entwicklung neuer Therapiekonzepte., Annährend 90% der Vorhofflimmern (VHF)-Patienten zeichnen sich durch das Vorhandensein der begleitenden Krankheiten, wie Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Hypertension aus. Die Charakterisierung der ätiologie-basierten, strukturellen Veränderungen im Vorhofmyokard bei Patienten mit VHF, als auch die Untersuchung der neuen Therapiekonzepte steht im Vordergrund dieses Vorhaben., Für diese Studie wird eine Sammlung von humanen, rechten Herzohren mit einem besonderen Fokus auf VHF-Patienten mit DM-Typ II und Hypertension geplant. Darüber hinaus stellt das humane Vorhofgewebe ein einzigartiges Material für die Gewebekultur dar. Das Kultivieren von humanen, atrialen Gewebeschnitten, als auch die elektrische Stimulation (in vitro VHF-Modell) der Vorhofschnitte wurde in unserer Gruppe entwickelt und etabliert. Darüber hinaus, werden für jede Art der Ätiologie, etablierte Tier Modellen (SHR-Ratte, ZDF-Ratte, Diabetes II-Schweine) verwendet.
CORONET - Novel interfaces between brain and computer
Interfaces between the brain and electrical circuits in technical devices or computers open new perspectives for basic research and medical application, e.g., for therapeutic brain stimulation and neuroprosthetics. The new EU project CORONET will develop the technological and theoretical foundations for such future "bio-hybrid" interfaces between biological and artificial nervous tissues., The European Commission supports CORONET with 2.7 Mio. from the 7th Framework Program. Within the category "Brain-inspired Computing", CORONET received the best rating out of all 39 concurring project proposals. The key idea of CORONET is to work with, not against, the complex spontaneous activity of living nervous tissues. The project will first "gently steer" the spontaneous activity into a desired direction by applying continuous, weak electrical stimulation. Then, the nervous tissue will be coupled to artificial, electronic networks that show a behavior as complex as that of the living brain. By aid of this coupling, the scientists will try to "read out" natural, spontaneously arising activity states in the nervous tissue., In a first step, computer simulations will serve as artificial neural networks. In a second step, the researchers will apply custom-built advanced integrated circuits that operate based on principles of the brain ("neuromorphic VLSI"). The final goal of the project is to seamlessly interface "silicon-" and living nervous tissues., The project involves senior scientists from Magdeburg, Dresden, Trieste, Rome, Haifa, and Barcelona and is led by Prof. Jochen Braun (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg). It builds on previous research performed in the Bernstein Group Magdeburg, coordinated also by Prof. Braun and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)., Contact Information, Prof. Jochen Braun, Institut für Biologie, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany, Phone: +49 391 67 55 050, , more information, http://kobi.nat.uni-magdeburg.de, - Cognitive Biology Group, http://www.bgcn.ovgu.de/, - Bernstein Group Magdeburg
KARYON - Kernel-based ARchitecture for safetY-critical cONtrol
Die Forschungsarbeiten der OVGU werden an der FIN am Lehrstuhl Eingebettete Systeme und Betriebssysteme (EOS) im Institut für Verteilte Systeme (IVS) durchgeführt. Projektleiter ist Prof. Dr. Jörg Kaiser: Wir stehen an der Schwelle, an der autonome und teilautonome mobile Systeme in öffentlichen Räumen genutzt werden. Intelligente kooperierende Fahrzeuge, die ihr Verhalten ohne die Intervention des Fahrers koordinieren, eröffnen die Möglichkeit, die bestehende Verkehrsinfrastruktur besser zu nutzen. Dadurch kann Mobilität erhalten werden, ohne immer neue Flächen für Verkehrsinfrastrukturen opfern zu müssen. Unbemannte Flugzeuge können im Umweltbereich zur Beobachtung ausgedehnter Ökosysteme oder zur Überwachung von Aschewolken eingesetzt werden, wie sie in jüngster Zeit durch Vulkanausbrüche entstanden sind. Da Verkehrsflächen oder der Luftraum mit anderen Systemen gemeinsam genutzt werden, müssen autonome Systeme in der Lage sein, ihre Umgebung korrekt wahrzunehmen und mit anderen Systemen sicher zu kooperieren. Im Moment dürfen autonome System aber entweder gar nicht oder nur unter erheblichen Einschränkungen im öffentlichen Raum eingesetzt werden, weil das Risiko eines Unfalls aufgrund eines Systemversagens mit schwerwiegenden Auswirkungen nicht mit genügender Sicherheit ausgeschlossen werden kann., KARYON widmet sich der Frage, wie solche Systeme sicherer gemacht werden können und erforscht grundlegende Systemstrukturen für vorhersagbare und sichere Koordination intelligenter mobiler Systeme in einer offenen, ungewissen Umwelt. Dies ist ein ambitioniertes Ziel, weil auf der einen Seite immer komplexere Komponenten für die Umgebungswahrnehmung, Fahrzeugkontrolle und zur drahtlosen Kommunikation verfügbar sind. Sie steigern die Leistungsfähigkeit solcher Systeme beträchtlich. Auf der anderen Seite bringt die erhöhte Komplexität auch neue Sicherheitsrisiken mit sich. Dieser Zielkonflikt erfordert innovative Lösungen in zwei Hauptrichtungen. Der erste Bereich widmet sich der Verfügbarkeit. Es bedeutet, dass eine hohe Systemleistung trotz Komponentenausfällen, Netzüberlastung und Umgebungsunsicherheiten aufrechterhalten werden soll. Hier werden neue Wege für fehlertolerante verteilte Kontrollverfahren untersucht. Der zweite Bereich ist die Bereitstellung eines Sicherheitskerns. Hier geht es darum, gefährliche Aktivitäten oder Situationen unter allen Umständen auszuschließen. Der Sicherheitskern überwacht alle Aktionen des mobilen Systems und garantiert ein vorhersehbares, sicheres Verhalten. Was ein sicheres Verhalten bedeutet, ist dabei an der jeweiligen Anwendung und Situation orientiert und erfordert die Durchsetzung festgelegter Verhaltensregeln trotz einer breiten Palette von Ungewissheiten der Umgebungswahrnehmung sowie Systemfehlern, Ausfällen und unsicheren Kommunikationsnetzen.
Euro-BioImaging - Research infrastructure for imagingtechnologies in biological and biomedical sciences (Preparatory Phase)
MI - Access to Innovative TechnologiesThe objectives of, WG Access to Innovative Technologies - Medical Imaging, (MI) are, To survey existing European infrastructure enabling innovative MI technologies., To identify the needs of the scientific community with regard to instrument developments and access to the identified innovative MI technologies including Ultra-High Field MR (UHF-MR), Novel X-ray based Phase-Contrast Imaging (PCI) and Emerging Imaging Technologies (EIT) such as combination of MR and PET, SPECT, or MEG (MR-PET, MR-SPECT, MEGMR), Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (EPRI), and Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI)., To search for additional emerging MI developments, which may be considered for inclusion in the forward planning of Euro-BioImaging infrastructure., To determine the bottlenecks for providing access to innovative MI technologies., To explore the feasibility of providing access to the identified innovative MI technologies by proof-of-concept studies., To develop a comprehensive, long-term plan for the implementation of European access to innovative MI technologies.
Marie Curie IEF: Touch and Action
To respond to a touch, it is often necessary to localize it in space, and not just on the skin. The computation of this external spatial location involves the integration of somatosensation with visual and proprioceptive information about current body posture. Failures in the encoding of this external mapping would prevent us from retrieving the correct location of tactile events, impairing normal interactions with the environment. It would be like feeling the tickle of an insect on the skin, without knowing where to reach out to swat it away. The aim of the current project is to elucidate the mechanisms whereby self-generated movements and preceding tactile information is used by the remapping system to improve tactile localization.
Interplay: Interaktion von mikrobieller Besiedelung und Darmfunktion während der postnatalen Entwicklung des Schweines: Innovative Wege zu einer nachhaltigen Tierproduktion
Tierhaltung erfolgt normalerweise nicht unter spezifiziert-pathogenfreien Bedingungen (SPF). Das Verbot von Antibiotika im Tierfutter (sog. Leistungsförderer), das die Europäische Union durchgesetzt hat, führt dazu, dass junge Schweine in der Aufzucht einer großen Anzahl von Bakterien ausgesetzt sind. Durch diese natürlichen Bedingungen muss sich der Organismus an die Umwelt anpassen und seine eigenen Abwehrmechanismen und eine effektive Darmfunktion entwickeln. Aber auch der Darm selbst reguliert die bakterielle Besiedlung - es kommt zu einer engen Interaktion zwischen Wirt und Darmbakterien - daher auch der Projektname ?Interplay?. Das Projekt wird einerseits die genaue Zusammensetzung der Darmbakterien charakterisieren, andererseits die Regulation des Darmepithels und des Abwehrsystems der Darmwand und des gesamten Organismus untersuchen. Wir wollen verstehen, wie die frühe Besiedlung des Darmes durch Bakterien die Gesamtentwicklung des Tieres beeinflusst und erwarten, dass bei genauer Kenntnis dieser Prozesse eine nachhaltige Tierhaltung ermöglicht wird.
Embedded Optimization for Resource Constrained Platforms
There is enormous economic potential for the application of embedded optimization technologies in embedded systems design. Recent advances in the performance of embedded hardware platforms, in combination with fundamental improvements in optimization theory and algorithms, have opened the door to widespread applications over the next decade. Embedded optimization will enable huge energy and resource savings, increased safety, and improved fault detection across a wide a range of industrial applications in the mechatronic, automotive, process control and aerospace sectors. In order to realize the full potential of optimization in embedded systems, their design must also be supported by a focussed set of tools enabling the rapid transfer of novel high-performance algorithms to practical applications. The EMBOCON consortium will enable widespread application of real-time optimization in embedded systems through:, Tailoring of customized numerical algorithms to increase their robustness and efficiency on embedded systems, Enabling real-time optimization on cheap industry-standard hardware platforms, Defining a common user interface for optimization technologies to facilitate technology transfer to industry, and, Performing challenging case studies in cooperation with industrial partners to demonstrate technological maturity., The EMBOCON consortium will strengthen a network of world-leading academic and industrial partners with complementary expertise in control, optimization and embedded systems in a range of industrial applications. Particular emphasis is placed on close collaboration between mathematical algorithm developers, control theorists, hardware specialists and industrial application engineers. The network will consolidate and extend Europe’s position as the world research leader in these areas and foster strong collaborative links between European academia and industry.
Center for Excellence for Modern Composites Applied in Aerospace and Surface Transport Infrastructure (FP7 - 245479 CEMCAST)
The project aims at continuation and advancement of activities initiated in FP6 ToK project MTKD ? CT - 2004 ? 014058 at the Centre for Modern Composite Materials (CMCM) created at the Lublin University of Technology (LUT). It is planned: a) to unlock and develop the full research potential and increase research capacities of the CMCM staff in the areas of competence comprising modelling of composite and smart materials and their applications to aerospace and transport infrastructure (pavements and airfields), also modelling and control of dynamics of structures made of composites b) to establish new areaof competence: innovative technologies for manufacturing of composites, c) to upgrade research equipmentfor testing of composite materials. The project objectives will be accomplished by a coherent set of the following complementary actions: twinning collaboration, recruitment of experienced researchers, organisation of workshops and mini-symposia, participation in international conferences, purchase of equipment. The project implementation will result in creating a leading research centre in the Middle-East part of Europe in the multidisciplinary area encompassing modelling and experimental testing of composite and smart materials and their application to aircrafts, pavements and airfields. The proposed project will strengthen co-operation with the regional industry, in terms of socio-economic aspects: will help to compensate disproportion (Lublin region is a less favoured one). It is also envisaged that the project will increase visibility and competitiveness at international level of the CMCM in the field of composite materials and their applications to engineering structures, resulting in deeper involvement of the CMCM in FP7 projects and better integration of the CMCM in the ERA.
SYBILLA - Systems Biology of T-cell Activation in Health and Disease
T-cell activation, whether induced by pathogens or auto-antigens, is a complex process relying on multiple layers of tightly controlled intracellular signalling modules that form an intricate network. Defects in this network can cause severe and chronic disorders such as autoimmune diseases. Although 5% of the population suffer from these diseases, only a few therapeutic, treatments are available. To a large extent this is attributed to the lack of systems-level insights, which would provide concepts of how to modulate T-cell activation. The SYBILLA project groups 14 partners from 9 different EU countries, including 3 SMEs. Through a multidisciplinary effort it aims to understand at the systems level, how T-cells discriminate, foreign from auto-antigens. Towards this goal, a transgenic mouse system will be used as a tractable physiological model. Data will be validated in human T-cells and a humanised mouse model for multiple sclerosis. SYBILLA will develop technological and mathematical tools to generate and integrate high-density quantitative data describing T-cell activation., Proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, imaging and multiplexed biochemical techniques will be applied to obtain holistic maps of T-cell signalling networks and to achieve a quantitative understanding of the network and its regulation in response to different inputs. Building upon our existing network model, constant iterations will be used to develop more robust dynamic, models to describe the network s response to perturbations. This will culminate in the generation of a Virtual T-Cell, allowing computer simulation to refine the predictability of physiological and pathophysiological reactions. SYBILLA s impact on EU biopharmaceutical competitiveness will be enormous through identification of new pharmacologic targets, optimised prediction of immunomodulatory drug efficacy, discovery of new concerted biomarkers and improvement of personalised medication for treating autoimmune diseases.
TAILoring photon-phonon interaction in silicon PHOXonic crystals
TAILPHOX project addresses the design and implementation of silicon phoXonic crystal structures that allow a simultaneous control of both photonic and phononic waves. The final goal is to push the performance of optical devices well beyond the state of the art by this radically new approach. By merging both fields (nanophotonics and nanophononics) within a same platform, novel unprecedented control of light and sound in very small regions will be achieved. The project will cover from the development of theoretical and numerical tools to deal simultaneously with light and sound to the application to three high-impact scenarios in the field of ICT: i) phonon-assisted light emission in silicon, ii) control of photon speed (delay and storage) by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in silicon photonic chips, and iii) realization of highly-sensitive dual phoXonic sensors.
WEB to Energy (W2E)
Die Entflechtung des Energiemarktes erfordert neue Geschäftsmodelle und neue integrative Methoden zur Optimierung der gesamten Wertschöpfungskette. Die Realisierung des europaweiten elektrischen Netzes der Zukunft macht die Umsetzung einer offenen, allgemein zugänglichen und genormten IKT-Infrastruktur erforderlich, so dass alle beteiligten Marktteilnehmer diskriminierungsfrei mit den notwendigen Informationen versorgt werden. Das Projekt WEB to Energy (W2E) hat das Ziel, diese offene, allgemein zugängliche und genormte IKT-Infrastruktur zu entwickeln. Der Grundgedanke hierbei ist die konsistente, gleichartige und einheitliche Anwendung von weltweit anerkannten IEC-Standards, insbesondere für Kommunikationsprotokolle (IEC 61850), IKT-Sicherheit (IEC TS 62351) und Datenverwaltung mittels CIM (IEC 61970). Im Projekt W2E werden Schnittstellen zwischen allen drei Ebenen entwickelt und auf diese Art und Weise ?plug and play?-Fähigkeiten und Kompatibilität realisiert. Somit wird im Projekt W2E ein nahtloser Ansatz für die Standardisierung von der Prozessebene, über die IKT-Infrastruktur bis zur Steuerungsebene gewährleistet. Im Rahmen von Feldtests werden folgende Schlüsselelemente umgesetzt und demonstriert:
1. Integration der Nutzer: verbesserte Effizienz der Energieerzeugung, um Energieeinsparungen zu erzielen und Spitzenlasten abzufedern und somit niedrigere Systemkosten und eine verbesserte Integration von erneuerbaren Energien zu erreichen., 2. Aktive Verteilungsnetze: Flexible und rekonfigurierbare Zusammenfassung und Verwaltung dezentraler, sicherer und unsicherer (fluktuierender) Einspeiser, Speicher und steuerbarer Lasten in virtuellen Kraftwerken, um ein Optimum an ökologischem und ökonomischen Betrieb zu erreichen.
3. Selbstheilungs-Fähigkeiten für die Verteilungsnetze, basierend auf den Möglichkeiten der IKT-Infrastruktur und einer automatisierten Fehlerklärung in Mittelspannungsanlagen und somit die Erhöhung der Versorgungssicherheit
CAMEL-MCG (Development of Higly Eficient and Environmentally Friendly Grinding Technology Through a Minimum coolant approach)
CAMEL-MCG aims to develop a complete technical solution for reducing the need of flood lubricant in grinding processes by means of the, minimum quantity lubrication, approach., The main objective of the project is to achieve a drastic reduction of coolant consumption in the grinding process (between 500 and 1000 times lower than current systems)., As a result of the application of Minimum Coolant Grinding technology (MCG), also the power consumption will be reduced by 50%; the waste production will be reduced by 40% and the occupied floor space will be 25% lower. These are estimated average values, as the results of the application of this new technology could be different for the several components machined by grinding operation (according to dimensions, precision requirements and productivity of the components to be reduced). In order to try to quantify and explore the potential of the new technology at the end of the project, a pilot process well-known by ESTARTA and IDEKO has been selected as validation test case. Once success will be achieved in this pilot process, its translation to other grinding processes will be almost immediate.
MICROFLEX - Micro fabrication production technology for MEMS on new emerging smart textiles/flexibles
The project concerns flexible materials in the form of high added value smart fabrics/textiles which are able to sense stimuli and react or adapt to them in a predetermined way. The challenge for the European textile industries is to add advanced functions to textiles and the recent progress of new technologies such as electronic inks provide an opportunity for a breakthrough by incorporating MEMS on flexible textiles/fabrics. The project will exploit microfabrication to produce, using custom printing processes, active functions cost efficiently. We propose to develop fundamental micro fabrication production technologies for MEMS on fabrics/textiles using flagship demonstrator applications. This will result in a cheap, easy to design, flexible, rapid, way to manufacture multifunction smart textiles/garments for a large set of multi-sectorial applications. The project will undertake a number of initial demonstrators of the underlying basic technology. These will be based on: light emission, cooling/heating, anti-static effect, gas sensing, energy harvesting, micro-encapsulation and actuation.
EU Marie-Curie-ITN: Herstellung und grundlegende Eigenschaften von Indiumnitrid und indiumreichen Legierungen (RAINBOW); Teilprojekt (OvGU): Halbleiter-Elektrolytkontakte für Sensorik
Indiumnitrid (InN) besitzt unter allen Nitridhalbleitern die kleinste Bandlücke. Erst seit wenigen Jahren ist bekannt, dass diese nicht im sichtbaren sondern im infraroten Spektralbereich liegt. Dies eröffnet neue Anwendungsfelder der Nitride. Ein Konsortium aus 14 europäischen Universitäten und Forschungseinrichtungen hat es sich zum Ziel gestellt, zum einen die Herstellung von InN und seinen Legierungen mit GaN und AlN deutlich zu verbessern und zum anderen grundlegende elektronische und optische Eigenschaften des Materialsystems zu untersuchen. Auf dieser Basis sollen erste Demonstratoren neuartiger Bauelemente realisiert werden.
High quality material and intrinsic properties of InN and indium rich nitride alloys - (the RAINBOW ITN)
Indium nitride is a new narrow gap semiconductor (<0.7 eV), which, alloyed with GaN (3.5 eV) and AlN (6.2 eV), will allow the spectral range from telecom to hard UV wavelengths to be covered. This narrow band gap makes InN an exciting material from which to develop the highest efficiency solar cells. Moreover, due to an electron mobility of around 4000 cm2/Vs and very high saturation velocities, InN is an ideal material for the development of high electron mobility devices capable of operating in the Terahertz range. To ensure the production of reliable commercial devices, rigorous fundamental research is required to understand the layer growth mechanisms and optimize material properties. In the RAINBOW academic and industrial consortium, the theoretical work will encompass modelling of the atomic structure and properties of the material from empirical potentials to ab initio techniques. Experiments will provide correlated structural, electronic, optical and chemical information from the nano to the macroscopic scale. In a closely concerted effort, we will determine the best conditions for the growth of highest quality InN and In rich (In,Ga,Al)N alloys by the main growth techniques (MOVPE, PAMBE, and HVPE). Under the supervision of world leading experts, numerous ER/ESRs will directly benefit from this interdisciplinary and multisectorial research and training effort. The ER/ESRs involved in this programme will also learn to manage research and industrial projects.
ECRYPT II – Associated Membership Uni-MD
The main goal of ECRYPT II is to strengthen and integrate research in cryptology in Europe and decrease fragmentation by creating a research infrastructure and by organising research into virtual laboratories, thereby establishing a joint research agenda and executing joint research in cryptology related areas., The researchers cooperating in ECRYPT II aim at the improvement of the, state of the art in practice and theory of cryptology by:, Improving the understanding of existing algorithms and protocols, Expanding the theoretical foundations of cryptology, Developing better cryptographic algorithms, protocols and implementations in the following respects: low cost, high performance and high security., To achieve these goals within the project a joint infrastructure is developed, which includes: tools for the evaluation of cryptographic algorithms, a benchmarking environment for cryptographic hardware and software, infrastructure for side channel analysis measurements and tools.
SemSeg - 4D Space-Time Topology for Semantic Flow Segmentation
The thorough analysis of flows plays an important role in many different processes, such as airplane and car design, environmental research, and medicine. Scientific Visualization and its subfield flow visualization have provided a variety of techniques for the domain experts to visually analyze large and complex flow data sets. Among them, so-called topological methods play an important role., Vector field topology (VFT) is a mathematically rigorous theory that reveals the essential structure of a static vector field. However, this approach is only fully valid for static vector fields. Recent developments in the target domains of this project show a clear transition from steady to unsteady flow scenarios. Accordingly, we have to see that the traditionally proven approaches do not apply anymore and that a conceptual change in the methodology of visual analysis is necessary. Topological methods which account for the complete dynamic behaviour of flow fields are strongly needed but do not exist. Steps toward this goal have been done from several sides, delivering prom-ising but yet only partial results. It is the objective of this project to research a new segmentation method for unsteady flows that has the elegance and specificity of (steady) VFT, but which provides correct results for unsteady flows as well.
Rapport - Building Rapport between Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Public or Private Research Capabilities
SMEs' strengths lie in their agility, imagination and customer interaction. However capitalizing on these strengths requires focused policy action to overcome the significant barriers they face either from inside or from outside. To be effective, these policies should be able to reach a large proportion of SMEs and tailor their actions to the various types of SMEs and their particular needs. This project aspires to advance this cause by fulfilling the following objectives:, To develop a reference guide of good practices including benchmarks for strengthening the knowledge exchange and knowledge transfer between research organizations and various kinds of SMEs; under the term good practices, the reference guide will refer to the specific services offered and the deployed programmes as well as the relevant policies., To develop a blueprint paper on new emerging forms of SMEs support for research backed by large corporations in a context where open innovation and public-private partnerships have increasingly gained importance; the paper will include benchmarks for private initiatives and public private partnerships of different kinds to support research activities within small businesses in different industries (e.g. consumer goods, IT, pharmaceuticals)., To initiate the engagement of policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders (see Table 16) into a dialogue and ensure the 'translation' of the reference guide and the blueprint paper into a roadmap for embedding the more suitable practices and policies into the European Research Area and the policy making at both regional and national levels., The project considers not only the engagement of SMEs into the research process but also enabling SMEs to access developed knowledge and competencies of the research community. In addition to the science-push programmes, it looks into the demand-pull initiatives where the focal SME drives the process. The work puts a strong emphasis on the SMEs of lower absorptive capacity and how to open up their horizons to external research capabilities. Our hypothesis is that if Europe manages to upgrade a significant part of those SMEs, the economic and social benefits will be enormous., www.rapport-project.eu
SHAMAN – Sustaining Heritage Access through Multivalent Archiving
SHAMAN ist ein Integriertes Projekt im Themenbereich Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) des 7. Rahmenprogramms der EU. Bei der ersten IKT-Ausschreibung wurde es unter 1.800 Einsendungen mit einer Bewertung von 97% akzeptiert und gilt als Flaggschiffprogramm in der digitalen Langzeitarchivierungsdomäne., Ziel ist die Erstellung eines Rahmenwerks für digitale Langzeitarchivierungssysteme (mehr als 100 Jahre) der nächsten Generation, die Implementierung eines Referenzsystems aufbauend auf einem Datengrid, sowie die Entwicklung von Werkzeugen zur Analyse, Aufnahme, Verwaltung, Zugriff und die Wiederverwendung von Informationen über verteilte Archive hinweg., Die im ersten Schritt gewonnenen Erkenntnisse des entwickelten Rahmenwerkes werden anschließend an Hand von 3 Anwendungsdomänen prototypisch überprüft: wissenschaftliche Publikationen und parlamentarische Archive, industrielles Design und Konstruktion (CAD), sowie wissenschaftliche Anwendungen (eScience)., Endanwender und Projektpartner sind u.a. die Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Philips und Xerox., Erstmals spielen Sicherheitslösungen bei der digitalen Langzeitarchivierung eine tragende Rolle. Dieser Part wird innerhalb des Projektes von der Arbeitsgruppe Multimedia & Security übernommen. Unsere Aufgaben umfassen damit:, die Charakterisierung von Richtlinien zur Durchsetzung von Sicherheitsmechanismen, wie Integrität und Authentizität der Daten als auch der gesamten Infrastruktur, die Entwicklung von Werkzeugen zur Durchsetzung und, die Spezifikation von Assessmentkriterien zur Überprüfung der gesamten Infrastruktur.
Bisociation Networks for Creative Information Discovery (BISON)
The concept of association is at the heart of many of today's powerful ICT technologies such as information retrieval and data mining. These technologies typically employ association by similarity or co-occurrence to discover new information relevant to the evidence already known to the user. However, association techniques fail to discover relevant information that is not related in obvious associative ways, in particular information that is related across different contexts. It is these kinds of context-crossing associations that are often needed in innovative domains., Domains that are characterized by the need to develop innovative solutions require a form of creative information discovery from increasingly complex, heterogeneous and geographically distributed information sources. These domains, including design and engineering (drugs, materials, processes, devices), areas involving art (fashion and entertainment), and scientific discovery disciplines, require a different ICT paradigm that can help users to uncover, select, re-shuffle, and combine diverse contents to synthesize new features and properties leading to creative solutions. People working in these areas employ creative thinking to connect seemingly unrelated information, for example, by using metaphors or analogical reasoning. These modes of thinking allow the mixing of conceptual categories and contexts, which are normally separated. The functional basis for these modes is a mechanism called bisociation., The main goal of the project is to develop a system(BISON) that makes use of these bisociation mechanisms. We anticipate that the BISON system will provide truly creative solutions in an interactive environment that implements novel knowledge integration, network visualisation and machine learning methods to aid creative discovery. BISON builds on widely researched methodologies such as association rule learning, analogical, metaphoric and case-based reasoning.
NOMAD - Autonomous Manufacture of Large Steel Fabrications
NOMAD ist ein Projekt innerhalb des durch die EU geförderten 5. Rahmenprogramms. (G1RD-CT-2000-00461). Das Projekt nutzt einen 6-Achs-Roboterarm zum Schweißen von großen Stahlkonstruktionen geringer Fertigungsstückzahl bzw. hoher Fertigungsvarianz. Der Schweißarm befindet sich auf einer mobilen, autonomen Roboterplattform (RTV). So kann der Schweißroboter beliebig am Werkstück positioniert werden, teure und aufwendige Konstruktionen zur Werkstückpositionierung werden vermieden. Das RTV kann sich so um das Werkstück bewegen, dass alle Schweißnähte durch den Roboterarm erreicht werden. Die Erkennung von Lage und Orientierung des Werkstückes erfolgt durch ein über der Werkzelle montiertes optisches Sensorsystem. Ebenso wird die Position des RTV durch dieses Sensorsystem erfasst und mit den Navigationsdaten der RTV-Steuerung verknüpft. Die Generierung der Programme für Roboterarm (Schweißen) und RTV (Navigation) erfolgt automatisch in Verbindung mit den originalen CAD-Daten des Werkstückes, den real durch das Kamerasystem gemessenen Daten und einem Simulationstool., Das Konsortium, :, Fraunhofer IFF - Kamerasystem, RTV-Navigation, Caterpillar Belgium S.A (Belgien) - Endanwender, Delfoi OY (Finnland) - Simulationssystem, Robosoft SA (Frankreich) - Fertigung des RTV, TWI LTD (GB) - Forschungsorganisation für Schweißtechnologien, Reis Robotics (Deutschland) - Roboterarm, ESAB AB (Schweden) - Schweißprozess-Verbrauchsmaterialien, Nusteel Structures LTD (GB) - Endanwender
Novel biomarkers in neurological and psychiatric disorders: autoantibodies to neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors - Acronym: NicAb
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are prototypic members of the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel family. There are two major nAChR subtypes, muscle and neuronal, which mediate neurotransmission for muscle contraction or regulate neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release in the CNS, respectively. Neuronal nAChR subunits (alpha2-10 and ß2-4) form various homo- and hetero-pentameric complexes., Neuronal nAChRs are drug targets for neuropsychiatric diseases, and substance addiction, whereas their reduced expression and/or impairment may be involved in several neuropsychiatric diseases including Alzheimer s, Parkinson s, autism, schizophrenia, affective disorders and alcohol and nicotine addiction. For example, smoking and some positive allosteric modulators of nACHRs improve negative symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia and show antidepressant effects. Antibodies (Abs) against nAChRs could cause nAChR loss and dysfunction, likely resulting in serious diseases. Abs to muscle nAChRs cause the disease myasthenia gravis. Moreover, Abs to neuronal nAChRs have been reported in subgroups of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autoimmune dysautonomia, and may further worsen nAChR neurotransmission in these subjects. However, systematic state-of-the-art studies with cell based assays are still lacking in this context., We aim to develop immunoassays (Athens) to detect new Abs to neuronal nAChRs in patients with neurological (Milan) and psychiatric (Magdeburg) diseases of suspected autoimmune etiology. Two large biobanks of sera/CSF from patients with well-characterized neuroimmunological disorders (myasthenia gravis, autoimmune encephalitis and related disorders - Athens / Milano), and schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder (Magdeburg), are available and more will be collected from additional patients. Study of the binding and functional characteristics of the identified Abs and their correlation with the individual diseases and symptoms will lead to the development of new biomarker tests for disease diagnosis, monitoring and therapy selection.
CircProt: Synaptic circuit protection in AD and HD: BDNF/TrkB and Arc signaling as rescue factors
Regulation of synaptic plasticity by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is crucial for brain function, as it pilots adaptive changes in neural networks. Pathological changes in BDNF availability and tropomyosine related kinase (TrkB) signaling are therefore among the most relevant pathomechanisms in neurodegenerative disorders (NDs)., Huntington´s disease (HD, ) and, Alzheimer´s disease (AD), are both strongly associated with BDNF related impairments. While BDNF is recognized as an endogenous protective factor in both diseases, the development of therapeutic strategies has been hampered by the lack of knowledge on, BDNF transport and release, , and on, BDNF/TrkB downstream signaling networks, in NDs. Members of this multidisciplinary research consortium have recently discovered key complex molecular controls of major importance for therapeutics, including the immediate early protein, Arc, as a master hub, for functional and structural synaptic plasticity. Building on these breakthroughs, we propose that BDNF/TrkB signaling via Arc function is key for the management and, treatment of synaptic dysfunction, and neuronal degeneration in AD and HD, . This project will identify novel combinatorial and synergistic strategies to alleviate AD and HD related impairments based on regulation of TrkB and its downstream signaling cascades. As an important upstream regulator, mobilization of endogenous BDNF synthesis and its transport will be given additional emphasis. Key protective factors are activation of neuronal burst firing in brain areas affected by the disease combined with physical exercise, and application of drugs that enhance BDNF expression (fingolimod) or BDNF vesicle transport (tubastatin and cysteamine). Advanced molecular imaging, synapse electrophysiology, biochemistry, and behavioral testing combined with realistic neural network modeling, will be used to, determine optimal therapeutic strategies, . This highly innovative research approach aims to harness the well-recognized therapeutic potential of BDNF, with potentially enormous benefit to people afflicted by NDs. The parallel analysis of AD and HD associated synaptic circuit dysfunctions and its drug-induced rescue will help us to identify common and divergent cellular pathways. Furthermore, knowledge of brain area-specific mechanisms and drug effects will enable us to target most specifically the different NDs with reduced side effects. By combining advanced molecular and electrophysiological studies of drug-induced improved synaptic plasticity with computational modeling of restored synaptic circuits, we expect to elucidate novel therapeutic mechanisms downstream of BDNF/TrkB signaling, with clear benefit for the treatment of AD and HD.
European Network on Noonan Syndrome and Related Disorders (NSEuroNet)
Internationales europäisches Forschungsnetzwerk zu genetischen Grundlagen und molekularer Pathophysiologie der RASopathien, Europäische Datenbank zu Mutationsspektrum und Genftyp-Phänotyp-Korrelationen (nseuronet.com), Genidentifikation durch Trio-Exom- / Genom-Sequenzierung, Krakheitsmodellierung mit Hilfe von in vitro und Tiermodellen, Leitlinien-Entwicklung
Preclinical approaches towards therapeutic intervention for fragile X premutation carriers
The Fragile X gene (FMR1) is polymorphic for the number of CGG trinucleotide repeats in its 5 -untranslated region. Repeat sizes in the general population range between 5-55 CGG repeats. In Fragile X syndrome repeat expansions exceed 200, silencing expression of FMR1, resulting in intellectual disability. Carriers of the Fragile X premutation have between 55-200 repeats in the FMR1 gene and are at risk for developing Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). FXTAS is a late onset neurodegenerative disorder causing tremor, ataxia, brain pathology, cognitive loss, dementia and early death in some individuals. The proposed pathological mechanism is a toxic RNA gain-of-function model in which mRNAs containing expanded CGG repeats accumulate in neuronal nuclear aggregates. These RNA aggregates sequester specific RNA-binding proteins, thus impairing their normal cellular functions and ultimately resulting in neuronal death. Currently, no treatment exists for FXTAS. As the potential molecular target is well defined (i.e. the mutant FMR1 mRNA), FXTAS is highly amenable to the development of gene targeting therapy. Therefore, the primary objective of this project is (1) to determine the relevance of Fmr1 premutation for neuronal development and symptoms in juvenility and (2) to identify pharmacological and molecular compounds to treat FXTAS and ist symptoms. Collectively, the partners of this multidisciplinary consortium have excellent in vivo and in vitro models of FXTAS, valuable resources and state-of-the-art and emerging technologies available. One focus of our project will be on the behavioral validation of the most promising components.
Nanoparticles for Brain Use, Diagnostic and Ophthalmological Applications
The aim of this project is to develop multi-modal nanoparticulate carrier systems for neuronal diagnostic and rescue and to prove the effectiveness in purpose-designed biological models. By this we will build up a network of excellence to offer the contract-based development and testing of drug delivery systems for all main CNS (central nervous system) indications (e.g. stroke, trauma, glaucoma, M. Alzheimer)., Drug development in the neurology/ophthalmology area is significantly hampered by pharmacokinetic obstacles (blood-brain barrier (BBB), unspecific tissue distribution). With this project we propose to develop nanoparticles (NP) for BBB passage which detect and prevent apoptotic neuronal death (a cause of cell loss in many diseases like glaucoma, trauma, etc). The Moscow partners will design NP loaded with antiapoptotic drugs with the aim to (i) protect the compound from degradation, (ii) transport across the BBB (iii) selectively target and accumulate in cells at risk. This objective will be achieved via development of the hybrid multifunctional carrier system., The Magdeburg group will perform the biological evaluation of the NP in a trauma/glaucoma model with In vivo Confocal Neuroimaging (ICON). ICON allows repetitive non-invasive imaging of BBB passage and, distribution with cellular resolution under live conditions in rodents., A computational analysis tool for the ICON data will be implemented by arivis (Unterschleissheim) to obtain a quantitative description of the NP s kinetic, cellular distribution, protective effects and potential neurotoxicity., ToxPlus (Heraklion) will 1) validate the in vivo imaging results by ex vivo quantitative analysis of the NP system 2) detect NP/drug in peripheral organs and 3) importantly, ToxPlus will address the potential immune response against the particles., We envisage transferring our product into the pipeline of Nanosystem Ltd. (Moscow), a pharmaceutical company focussed on the development of nanoparticles.
Experimental approaches towards therapeutic intervention for Fragile X-associated Tremor Ataxia Syndrome (Cure-FXTAS)
FXTAS is a late-onset neurodegenerative disorder affecting carriers of premutation forms of the FMR1 gene, resulting in a progressive development of tremor, ataxia and neuropsychological problems. Both the gene and the pathogenic trigger (RNA toxicity) responsible for FXTAS are known; therefore, this disorder represents a promising candidate for development of targeted gene therapies. The central goal of this proposal is to define critical periods in development for disease onset, identify therapeutic windows for treatment, test novel therapeutics in genetically modified mouse model for their potential to prevent or rescue the development of FXTAS. We will investigate to what extend neurobehavioral deficits produced by the expanded CGG repeat may be reduced or reversed, by shutting down the CGG-repeat-containing transgene. To this end we will perform a comprehensive behavioural and pharmacological analysis of inducible bigenic mice in which expression of CGG99 RNA can be turned off at different stages during development of FXTAS, to establish when suppression of abnormal gene expression can halt or reverse disease progression. Based thereon we will determine the therapeutic potential of acute genetic interventions to treat FXTAS
Neuron-Verbund "REVlS": Restitution von Sehleistungen nach Schlaganfall durch nicht-invasive elektrische Hirnstimulation
1. Vorhabenziel; REVIS will study visual system plasticity following posterior infarcts in stroke patients and animals. Specifically, we will evaluate the effects of a new non-invasive current brain stimulation method to achieve vision restoration. There are 11 Mio stroke patients worldwide that suffer from damage to lhe visual system, with 2.1 Mio new cases annually which have significant subjective impairments in everyday life. We attempt to improve brain plasticity with non-invasive alternating and direct current stimulation (applied transorbitally or transcranially) and thereby achieve clinical improvements such as better independence, return to work, improved quality of Iife (orienting, reading) and greater mobility. 2. Arbeitsplanung; We will look for signs of local and global plasticity (changes in receptive fields, activations and connectivities) in strokepatients with visual field loss before and after brain current stimulation to achieve vision restoration using functional tests, EEG, and MRI measurements.The Magdeburg part of the project will be carried out by B. Sabel, C.Gall (Inst. of Med. Psychol., project coordination) and O. Speck (Inst. of Exp. Physics), all at the University of Magdeburg. As part of the REVIS consortium, human studies will also be conducted as a joint effort with lhe partners P. Rossini (Rome) and T. Tatlisumak (Helsinki) and animal studies with V. Waleszczyk (Warsaw). Commercial collaborating partner is EBS Technologies GmbH (Kleinmachnow).
Targeting Rho-signalling, a new therapeutic avenue in fragile X syndrome (CURE-FXS)
The consortial project CURE-FXS aims at the development of new avenues for a treatment of cognitive dysfunctions in the fragile X syndrome of mental retardation. The consortial partners focus an the therapeutic potential of Rho-GTPase activators and on the intracellular signalling pathways that are controlled by these factors. The Magdeburg project plays a key role in evaluating the potential of substances that are developed in the consortium. We plan 1) to determine the efficiency of Rho activators to stimulate hippocamus- and cortex-dependent cognitive function, 2) to optimize the application formula of the activators and 3) to identify potential further pharmacological targets in the downstream signalling pathways. To this end, we investigate the benefitial effect of chronic intracerebroventricular administration of Rho activotors in a genetic mouse model of fragile X syndrome. Acute and local applications will be used to identify stages of memory formation and and to clarify the roles of brain structures involved. Moreover, by analyzing the underlying cellular mechanisms through collaboration within the consortium we aim to develop a basis for improving existing and for developing novel therapeutic Rho activators.
Verbundprojekt: Untersuchungen zur Effizienzerhöhung der µ-PECM auf Mikrostrukturen (ERANET-REMM) - Teilvorhaben: Entwicklung der Prozessenergiequelle
Für die Micro System Technology (MST) steigt steig die Anzahl der Anwendungen, die eine Bearbeitung mit hoher Präzision und kleinen Abmessungen verlangt. Die Elektrochemische Bearbeitung (ECM) entwickelte sich in den letzten Jahren, insbesondere die gepulste ECM-Technology (PECM). Im Projekt werden die zwei Techniken der PECM (konventionelle gepulste ECM) und die µ-PECM (Wirkung der Doppleschichtumladung) darauf hin untersucht, auch bei Mikrodetailbearbeitungen eine hohe Effizienz und Präzision zu erreichen. Das Arbeitsgebiet umfasst dabei die Prozessenergiequellen, die Prozesssteuerungen, die Halterungs- und Führungssysteme, die Elektrolyte und die Anbindung An CAD/CAM.
COST Action CA18227: The Core Outcome Measures for Food Allergy (COMFA)
Lebensmittelallergien sind eine große finanzielle Belastung mit signifikanten Auswirkungen auf Gesundheitsversorgung, Bildung, Nahrungsmittelindustrie und Gastronomie. Aktuell werden neue Behandlungen bei Lebensmittelallergien entwickelt. Allerdings gibt es kein konsentiertes Bündel an sogenannten "Core outcomes" (d.h. zentralen Behandlungsergebnissen), um diese neuen Behandlungen zu evaluieren. Dies kann für Europäer mit Lebensmittelallergien die Entwicklung effektiver Behandlungen mit Marktzulassung durch Regulationsbehörden verhindern., Ein Bündel an "Core outcomes” sichert, dass Untersuchungsergebnisse für Patient*innen, Kliniker*innen, Gesundheitsanbieter*innen und Regulationsbehörden relevant sind. Sie erlauben zudem, dass Untersuchungsergebnisse in Meta-Analysen einfließen können, so dass aus neuen Erkenntnissen schnellstmöglich Nutzen gezogen werden kann. Das Projekt "Core Outcome Measures for Food Allergy” (COMFA) ist ein multidisziplinäres Netzwerk, in dem alle relevanten Akteure vertreten sind. Es hat das Ziel, die Forschung und Innovationen zu Lebensmittelallergeien voranzubringen durch a) Definition des Bereichs und der Anwendbarkeit eines lebensmittelallergiebezogenen Bündels an "Core outcomes", b) die Entwicklung neuer Core Outcomes und Entwicklung von Messinstrumenten für Lebensmittelallergien und c) Konsenserreichung über Terminologie und Definitionen von Messeigenschaften der lebensmittelallergiebezogenen Core Outcomes.
MULTI-modal Imaging of FOREnsic SciEnce Evidence (MULTI-FORESEE)- tools for Forensic Science
The main objective of this Action, entitled MULTI-modal Imaging of FOREnsic SciEnce Evidence (, MULTI-FORESEE, )- tools for Forensic Scienc, e, is to promote innovative, multi-informative, operationally deployable and commercially exploitable imaging solutions/technology to analyse forensic evidence., Forensic evidence includes, but not limited to, fingermarks, hair, paint, biofluids, digital evidence, fibers, documents and living individuals. Imaging technologies include optical, mass spectrometric, spectroscopic, chemical, physical and digital forensic techniques complemented by expertise in IT solutions and computational modelling., Imaging technologies enable multiple physical and chemical information to be captured in one analysis, from one specimen, with information being more easily conveyed and understood for a more rapid exploitation. The enhanced value of the evidence gathered will be conducive to much more informed investigations and judicial decisions thus contributing to both savings to the public purse and to a speedier and stronger criminal justice system., The Action will use the unique networking and capacity-building capabilities provided by the COST framework to bring together the knowledge and expertise of Academia, Industry and End Users. This synergy is paramount to boost imaging technological developments which are operationally deployable.
Integrating devices and materials: challenge for new instrumentation in ICT (COST Action IC1208)
This Action addresses the critical challenge of providing new devices for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) applications running from sensors to photonics and optoelectronics. Traditional materials such as liquid crystals and devices such as acoustic resonators -are now showing new and improved functionalities when combined with nanostructured materials. This leads to innovative devices, which broaden the horizon of the applications in many areas, from health (bio- and diagnostic sensors) to optical communications and photonics (reconfigurable optics, displays). Interdisciplinarity and improved use of knowledge are essential for undertaking challenges in the design of new devices derived from new materials.
COST Action IC1206 - De-identification for privacy protection in multimedia content
Die COST Action IC1206 hat das Ziel die Privatsphäre in Multimediadaten zu schützen. Dabei werden verschiedene biometrische Modalitäten wie Gesicht, Stimme, Silhouette oder Gang., In vier verschiedenen Arbeitsgruppen arbeiten Wissenschaftler aus verschiedenen Forschungsbereichen zusammen., Die COST Action hat Teilnehmer aus derzeit 28 europäischen Staaten sowie Partner aus drei weiteren Staaten.
COST 2101 Action: BIDS - Biometrics for Identity Documents and Smart Cards
With an increase in identity fraud and the emphasis on security, there is a growing and urgent need to efficiently identify humans both locally and remotely on a routine basis. The Action addresses the issues of the global breakthrough by biometrics in identity verification technology that is imminent in terms of its use in identity documents and corresponding applications. The appearance of biometric identity documents such as passports, visas, national identity cards, drivers' licences and health insurance cards, have triggered a real need for reliable, user-friendly and widely acceptable automated reference mechanisms for checking the identity of an individual., The main objective of the Action is to investigate novel technologies for unsupervised multimodal biometric authentication systems using a new generation of biometrics-enabled identity documents and smart cards, while exploring the added-value of these technologies for large-scale applications with respect to the European requirements in relation to storage, transmission and protection of personal data. The Action also aims to address challenges in the deployment of the most promising biometric media such as identity document chips and smart cards in their various formats. This will involve considerable study of the application areas and efforts on the development of standards.
Horizont 2020, Marie S. Curie Individual Fellowships
Das Ziel dieses Projekts ist es, einen neuartigen Rahmen für die rechnerisch effiziente und genaue Simulation von Zweiphasenströmen bereitzustellen, indem die Reihenfolge der Darstellung der Schnittstelle in dem geometrischen VOF-Verfahren von linear bis quadratisch erhöht wird. Dies ermöglicht einen genauen Transport von dritter Ordnung, und eine genaue genaue Schätzung der an der Grenzfläche wirkenden Oberflächenspannungskraft, wodurch Fehler auf eine Weise reduziert wird, die bisher nicht erreicht wurde. Darüber hinaus werden diese Schemata entwickelt, so dass sie auf komplexe Domänen angewendet werden können, was ebenfalls eine Begrenzung vorhandener Verfahren ist, die typischerweise nur in der Lage sind, zweiphasige Flüsse in rechteckigen Strömungsdomänen genau zu simulieren. Das Ergebnis der vorgeschlagenen Forschung ist zweifach. Erstens erhöht die Reihenfolge der Genauigkeit der vorherrschenden zweiphasigen Durchflussmodelliermethode - das VOF-Verfahren - ergibt genauere Simulationsergebnisse. Zweitens erlaubt die vorgeschlagene Arbeit auch die Berücksichtigung komplexer, realistischer Flussdomänen.
SINFONIA -Radiation risk appraisal for detrimental effects from medical exposure during management of patients with lymphoma or brain tumour
The overall objective of the 4-year SINFONIA project is to develop novel research methodologies and tools that will provide a comprehensive appraisal of the risk for detrimental effects to patients, workers, the public and the environment from radiation exposure during management of patients suspected or diagnosed with lymphoma and brain tumours., SINFONIA will develop novel tools and methodologies that will be demonstrated on two suitable clinical examples i.e. lymphoma and brain tumours. However, SINFONIA research outcomes are not confined to the two specific types of diseases. Some of the procedures performed on lymphoma and brain tumour patients are also carried out on patients with other diseases and SINFONIA radiation dose and risk appraisal methods developed for these two groups of patients will be applicable to other diseases
AUGMENTED COOPERATION IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN NUCLEAR AND RADIOCHEMISTRY (A-CINCH)
Expertise in nuclear and radiochemistry (NRC) is of strategic relevance in the nuclear energy sector and in many vital applications. The need for radiochemistry expertise will even increase as the focus shifts from safe nuclear power plant operation to decontamination and decommissioning, waste management and environmental monitoring. The non-energy fields of NRC applications are even much broader ranging from life sciences - radiopharmaceuticals, radiological diagnostics and therapy - through dating in geology and archaeology, (nuclear) forensics and safeguards operations, to radiation protection and radioecology. The A-CINCH project primarily addresses the loss of the young generation's interest for nuclear knowledge by focusing on secondary / high school students and teachers and involving them by the "Learn through Play” concept. This will be achieved by bringing advanced educational techniques such as state-of-the- art 3D virtual reality NRC laboratory, Massive Open Online Courses, RoboLab distance operated robotic experiments, Interactive Screen Experiments, NucWik database of teaching materials, or Flipped Classroom, into the NRC education. All the new and existing tools wrapped-up around the A-CINCH HUB - a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate single point of access - will contribute increasing the number of students and trainees in the field of nuclear and radiochemistry. Nuclear awareness will be further increased by the High School Teaching Package, Summer Schools for high school students, Teach the Teacher package and many others. Additionally, successful educational and training tools from previous projects will be continued and further developed. Networking is an important part of the project, facilitated by having ENEN as one of the partners and by having structural links with other Euratom projects, the EuChemS, the NRC-Network as well as by additional links with other end users and stakeholders including the high schools.
UNITI - Unification of Treatments and Interventions for Tinnitus Patients
WE STAND UNIT(I)ED AGAINST TINNITUS!, Tinnitus is the perception of a phantom sound and the patient s reaction to it. Although much progress has been made, tinnitus remains a scientific and clinical enigma of high prevalence and high economic burden. It affects more than 10% of the general population, whereas 1% of the population considers tinnitus their major health issue. Recent cohort studies show that tinnitus prevalence tends to increase over time and with older age. Assuming that there is no cure to be found, the prevalence estimates in Europe would double by 2050. A large variety of patient characteristics - including genotyping, aetiology, and phenotyping - are poorly understood, because integrated systems approaches are still missing to correlate patient`s characteristics to predict responses to combinatorial therapies. Although genetic causes of tinnitus have been neglected for decades, recent findings of genetic analysis in specific subgroups (gender and phenotype) have highlighted that bilateral tinnitus in men reached a heritability of 0.68.This heritability is close to autism, schizophrenia and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). There is no current consensus on tinnitus treatment., UNITI s overall aim is to deliver a predictive computational model based on existing and longitudinal data attempting to address the question which treatment approach is optimal for a specific patient based on specific parameters. Clinical, epidemiological, medical, genetic and audiological data, including signals reflecting ear-brain communication, will be analysed from existing databases. Predictive factors for different patient groups will be extracted and their prognostic relevance will be tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which different groups of patients will undergo a combination of therapies targeting the auditory and central nervous systems.
EURAMED rocc-n-roll - EURopeAn MEDical application and Radiation prOteCtion Concept: strategic research agenda aNd ROadmap interLinking to heaLth and digitisation aspects
Radiation protection in medical applications is well established throughout Europe, however still facing challenges like large differences in procedures between countries, but even within a country or even within a hospital. In addition, new promising approaches like new technologies as e.g. artificial intelligence or personalized medicine approaches need to be investigated regarding their potential for medical radiation protection. The European Alliance for Medical Radiation Protection Research (EURAMED) platform has been found to promote such research in the EC research programme . Together with five other platforms research in the field of radiation protection is promoted basically in the EURATOM framework. Acknowledging the importance of medical applications as the largest man-made source of exposure and the great possibilities of applying ionizing radiation in medicine the EURATOM programme has launched a call for a coordination and support action to develop a strategic research agenda (SRA) on medical applications of ionizing radiation in general allowing to improve links to other programs like HEALTH or DIGITALIZATION., A consortium called EURAMED rocc-n-roll has been put together to fulfil the task of developing such an SRA partially based on the existing EURAMED SRA on medical radiation protection. In addition it will also develop a roadmap describing how this research agenda can be implemented. An interlink document showing the potential distributions of the different European research programmes to such defined approaches will also be developed. All these documents need to be derived based on a broad consensus of all stakeholders especially also including the patients’ perspective. Therefore, EURAMED rocc-n-roll is based on a series of workshops and writing panels. The workshops will allow contributions by interested stakeholders in person or through members of the consortium., OvGU is serving as the scientific coordinator of the project.
PANAPI: Path Aware Networking Application Programming Interface Design and Implementation
The PANAPI (Path Aware Networking API) project will design a sophisticated host-based network-path selection engine on top of the SCION network architecture, and provide it as an open source implementation of the abstract next-generation transport service API currently being drafted in the IETF TAPS Working Group., PANAPI will provide a powerful and extensible framework for automatic path property measurements, path quality evaluation, and optimized path selection, complete with automatic load balancing and failure recovery in a PAN environment, all hidden behind upcoming standard application-facing API abstractions., Our work will empower a large community of developers interested in adding PAN support to their, applications. Incorporation of developer feedback, permissive open source licensing, close collaboration with PAN architects on the PANAPI implementation, and engagement with the IETF community about front end API compatibility and best practices are among our most important priorities.
Improving neuropsychological functions and clinical course in children and adolescents with ADHD with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the prefrontal cortex: a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel group trial using an uncertified class IIa device
Kinder und Jugendliche mit einer Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) haben insbesondere in der Schule Schwierigkeiten, sich über einen längeren Zeitraum zu konzentrieren und ihr Verhalten zu steuern. Dabei fällt es ihnen oft schwer Dinge auszublenden, die für die eigentliche Aufgabe nicht wichtig sind. In der vorliegenden klinischen Studie wollen wir untersuchen, ob durch wiederholte, sogenannte transkranielle Gleichstromstimulation (tDCS) über der vorderen Hirnrinde (Frontallappen) Aufmerksamkeits- und Verhaltenskontrolle bedeutsam und langfristig verbessert werden können., Die Wirksamkeit dieser Methode soll dabei mit Hilfe verschiedener Computer-Tests, Fragebögen und eines Elektroenzephalogramms (EEG), das die Hirnaktivität aufzeichnet, überprüft werden. So möchten wir ermitteln, ob die Gleichstromstimulation bei der Behandlung von ADHS hilfreich sein kann, und ob diese Methode für bestimmte Kinder und Jugendliche besonders gut oder nicht gut geeignet ist. Neben dem EEG werden wir auch die Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) einsetzen, um Veränderungen der Gehirnaktivität durch Stimulation besser zu verstehen und um zu überprüfen, ob Unterschiede in der Gehirnstruktur den Erfolg der Stimulation beeinflussen., Die Studie wird an mehreren Orten in Deutschland (Bielefeld, Frankfurt, Kiel, Magdeburg) und Portugal (Coimbra) durchgeführt; insgesamt sollen ungefähr 200 Kinder und Jugendliche an der Studie teilnehmen. Die Studie wird durch das EU-Rahmenprogramm für Forschung und Innovation Horizont 2020 gefördert und ist Teil eines europäischen Gemeinschaftsprojekts (Grant Agreement Nr. 731827, Sti, mulation in, Ped, iatrics, STIPED, ). Sie wird veranlasst und organisiert durch die Medizinische Fakultät der Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg, den sogenannten Sponsor dieser Studie (DRKS00012659).
STIPED: Transcranial brain stimulation as innovative therapy for chronic pediatric neuropsychiatric disorder
Transkranielle Hirnstimulation als innovative Therapie bei ADHS und Autismus, Die transkranielle Gleichstromstimulation (tDCS) wird als innovative, effektive und sichere Alternative in der Behandlung neuropsychiatrischer Erkrankungen bei Erwachsenen bereits erfolgreich eingesetzt. Bei dieser Methode wird die Erregbarkeit bestimmter Gehirnbereiche durch einen schwachen Gleichstrom gezielt beeinflusst. Im vorliegenden Projekt soll erstmals systematisch untersucht werden, ob auch bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) und Autismus-Spektrum-Störung (ASD) mit Hilfe der transkraniellen Gleichstromstimulation eine Verbesserung kognitiver Funktionen und eine Verringerung klinischer Symptome erreicht werden kann., Im ersten Projektabschnitt wird in drei randomisierten, doppelblinden und sham-kontrollierten Studien bei ADHS und ASD untersucht, welche Veränderungen (Effektstärken) sich durch die Stimulation störungsrelevanter Hirnregionen in zentralen kognitiven Parametern erzielen lassen. In einer Stichprobe gesunder Kinder und Jugendlicher wird weiterhin überprüft, wie sich strukturelle und funktionelle Veränderungen im Lauf der Entwicklung auf die Wirksamkeit von tDCS auswirken. Durch den Einsatz moderner Verfahren der Neurophysiologie, Bildgebung (MRT) und Computersimulation kann untersucht werden, welche individuellen Merkmale Vorhersagen über den Stimulationserfolg erlauben und welche Wirkmechanismen der tDCS sich bei Kindern und Jugendlichen identifizieren lassen. Für viele Familien sind häufige Besuche in einer Klinik oft nur schwer umsetzbar. Deshalb wird im Rahmen des Projekts eine Stimulationseinheit entwickelt, die die sichere und einfache Anwendung der Gleichstrombehandlung durch die Eltern erlaubt. Die Wirksamkeit dieses home-based Behandlungsansatzes wird im letzten Projektabschnitt in einer randomisierten, doppelblinden und sham-kontrollierten Studie untersucht. Weiterhin stehen die ethischen Aspekte der tDCS-Behandlung im Fokus des Projekts. Hierfür werden die Einstellungen, Erwartungen und Bedenken gegenüber transkranieller Elektrostimulation von Kindern und Jugendlichen und ihre Eltern über den gesamten Projektzeitraum erfasst., Das Projekt wird gefördert durch das EU-Rahmenprogramm für Forschung und Innovation Horizont 2020 (Grant Agreement Nr. 731827).
EUROlinkCAT: Establishing a linked European Cohort of Children with Congenital Anomalies
Europaweite Vernetzung, der, Daten, zu, angeborenen Anomalien, bei, Kindern, Über 130.000 Kinder, die jedes Jahr in Europa geboren werden, haben eine angeborene Fehlbildung (CA). Diese Anomalien oder Fehlbildungen, gehören zwar häufig zu den seltenen Krankheiten, betreffen aber eine große Gruppe und sind somit eine Hauptursache für Säuglingssterblichkeit, Kindheitsmorbidität und -sterblichkeit oder schränken langfristig die Entwicklung und Lebensqualität der betroffenen Familien ein., EUROCAT ist ein etabliertes europäisches Netzwerk von Registern zur Erhebung von angeborenen Anomalien. In dem neuen Projekt EUROlinkCAT wird die EUROCAT-Infrastruktur zur Unterstützung von 21 EUROCAT-Registern in 13 europäischen Ländern genutzt, um deren Daten zu Mortalitäts-, Krankenhausentlassungs-, Rezept- und Bildungsdatenbanken zu verknüpfen. Das zentrale Ergebnis-Verzeichnis (CRR) enthält standardisierte Daten und Analysen über geschätzte 200.000 Kinder mit einer angeborenen Fehlbildung, die von 1995 bis 2014 geboren wurden, bis zum Alter von 10 Jahren. So können Hypothesen über die Gesundheit und Bildung auf EU-Ebene untersucht werden und Diagnose, Prävention, Versorgung und Behandlung für Kinder, betroffen von Anomalien, optimiert werden. Es können im Zusammenhang mit den angeborenen gesundheitlichen Einschränkungen entstehende Entwicklungsdefizite auf europäischer Ebene erkannt und der Entwicklung entgegengewirkt werden., Dieses Registernetzwerk wird unterstützt durch die Nutzung von Social-Media-Plattformen, um mit Familien zu kommunizieren, die in den einzelnen europäischen Regionen leben. Ein neues, nachhaltiges e-Forum, "ConnectEpeople", verbindet diese Familien mit lokalen, nationalen und internationalen Registern und Informationsressourcen. ConnectEpeople wird diese Familien in die Festlegung von Forschungsprioritäten einbeziehen und eine sinnvolle Verbreitung der Ergebnisse sicherstellen., Eine wirtschaftliche Bewertung der Krankenhauskosten im Zusammenhang mit CA wird zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Das CRR und die dazugehörigen Unterlagen, einschließlich Verknüpfungs-, Normungsverfahren und "ConnectEpeople" -Forum, stehen nach EUROlinkCAT zur Verfügung und erleichtern damit künftige Analysen auf lokaler und EU-Ebene., Das Projekt wird gefördert durch das EU-Rahmenprogramm für Forschung und Innovation Horizont 2020 (Grant Agreement Nr. 733001).
Deep-Learning and HPC to Boost Biomedical Applications for Health (DeepHealth):
Deep-Learning and HPC to Boost Biomedical Applications for Health (DeepHealth), Mit Techniken der artifiziellen Intelligenz werden digitale Supportsysteme entwickelt, die in der klinischen Praxis hilfreich sind. Aufgabe der Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie ist es hierbei Studien zur Depression und Demenz durchzuführen und mathematische Modellierungen zur Therapieprädiktion und Prädiktion des Verlaufs durchzuführen
Deployment and Evaluation of the SCION Secure Internet Architecture on Fed4FIRE+ Testbeds
The main goal of this project is the deployment and evaluation of the SCION network on multiple Fed4FIRE+ testbeds, specifically GEANT GTS, Virtual Wall, Grid5000, and Exogeni. Our SCIONLab infrastructure facilitates the interaction between different deployed SCION networks and services, whereas SCIONLab nodes themselves contribute to the routing within the SCION topology, thus enabling a broad range of novel path-aware applications. To this end, the aim is to interconnect instances of SCION nodes deployed on the different Fed4FIRE+ testbeds among each other as well as with other nodes in the global SCIONLab network such as within DFN and SWITCH and their associated universities OVGU Magdeburg and ETH Zurich.
RAISING EU PRODUCTIVITY: LESSONS FROM IMPROVED MICRO DATA [MICROPROD]
Labour productivity has slowed down atypically over the last decade or so in the developed world. That means that workers on average are not becoming more productive at quite the same speed as they used to., A similar picture in terms of how labour productivity has slowed down is seen for total factor productivity, i.e. when considering all factors of production, including capital. This is despite technological advancements continuing, and thus offering opportunities for innovation, as well as firms progressively integrating in global value chains, and therefore encouraging competition and gains in efficiency. All of these would suggest improvements in productivity vs. the observed slow down, a paradoxical situation that indicates how poor and incomplete our understanding of the underlying mechanisms at work is., The consequences of this slow down are not innocuous. Contrary to a long-term trend, the current generation expects that future generations may earn less than they do, raising issues about intergenerational transfers and sustainability of welfare systems across generations. At the same time, the benefits of the small productivity improvements are accruing disproportionately to capital over labour. The distribution of wealth is therefore becoming increasingly and very visibly unequal, a fact that causes societal anxiety and unrest. Understanding why this occurs is crucial as we prepare for the post financial crisis era., But what is the root cause of this productivity slow down? Some have argued that part of the answer lies in the way we measure productivity. Outdated methodologies are not in the position to capture how value is created given current technology and therefore vastly underestimates the advancements in productivity. Others are increasingly paying attention to the role of intangible investments, in particular as digital business models are becoming increasingly successful. The argument here is that digital firms have the ability to scale up and produce more without proportional increases in capital. If you are Facebook, you can increase the number of people you reach (and therefore the potential for income) without much additional investment. By contrast, a department store would need to invest in property and people if it wanted to expand its operations. Measured aggregate productivity trends may underestimate future productivity growth when increases in aggregate expenditures disproportionately go to intangible intensive firms. Similarly, tracking productivity changes in real time is made difficult because the returns to intangible investment may be very delayed., Furthermore, there are additional implications of intangible investments that are not fully understood. For example, the difficulty in funding intangible investment through traditional financial channels will have a large impact on firms that rely on tangibles. Even before that, as firms grow with little investments they also have fewer assets that can be used for accessing credit, a fact that may distort lending at an aggregate level. Moreover, the implications of an increased role of intangibles for the organisation of firms into global value chains are also unclear.
image quality analysis on patient images - EU Projekt MEDIRAD
Medical imaging quality description is today either based on investigating with objective physical mathematical methods images of certain test objects or on subjective reader evaluations. The objective methods can be either based on methods applicable in the Fourier domain or those in the spatial domain. While analytics in the Fourier domain are often quite easy they are often difficult to interpret in terms of provided diagnostic performance. Image quality analysis in the spatial domain is on the other hand typically limited to very specific tasks and complicated to perform. Human reader studies very often result in very different results and are very time consuming. We want to develop a way to characterise patient images based on physical methods to describe image quality so that fast objective measurements correspond to human reader studies. That would allow qulaity assurance on real patient images in the future.
enhAnced Mobile BiomEtRics (AMBER)
AMBER (enhAnced Mobile BiomEtRics) is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network addressing a range of current issues facing biometric solutions on mobile devices. AMBER will comprise ten integrated Marie Sklodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher (ESR) projects across five EU universities. The Network has the direct support of seven Industrial Partners., The aim of the Network is to collate Europe-wide complementary academic and industrial expertise, train and equip the next generation of researchers to define, investigate and implement solutions, and develop solutions and theory to ensure secure, ubiquitous and efficient authentication whilst protecting privacy of citizens., This project has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 675087.
CORE - Continuous Resolution and Deracemization of Chiral Compounds by Crystallization
Industries are in need of highly skilled academically trained experts and powerful sets of tools enabling the design, control & prediction of optimized & efficient production process of future high-value products such as chiral pharmaceuticals. The CORE Network will in parallel train 15 ESRs and develop tools, approaches and methods within the area of Continuous Resolution (CORE), the process to obtain enantiopure molecules of chiral compounds., The training objective of the CORE network is to deliver a CORE skills toolbox of knowledge, personal, organizational and impact skills to a core of multi-disciplinary scientists and engineers in the interdisciplinary and cross-sectional field of Continuous Resolution. Each ESR obtains dedicated training through their research project, network events, a webinar course, management involvement and an academic & industrial secondment., The research objective of the CORE Network is to jointly construct a CORE Industrial Toolbox on Continuous Resolution that provides next generation tools, approaches and methods to industry for the development continuous resolution processes. The strongly involved industrial partners will ensure that the CORE Industrial Toolbox fulfils their requirements in the skills gap areas Towards Continuous, Hybrid Resolution and Enabling Resolution., CORE brings together 8 academic and 7 industrial partners resulting in an unparalleled combination of chirality, synthesis and crystallization training and research covering the areas of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Applied Physics., This project has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722456.
ZIKAlliance Project 53
In dem weltweiten Verbund erforschen Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Fachdisziplinen das ZIKA-Virus, welches hauptsächlich über Mücken übertragen wird und bereits in 73 Ländern auftritt. Die ZIKA-Virus-Infektion ist unter anderem Ursache für eine Fehlentwicklung des Gehirns bei Neugeborenen, der sogenannten Mikrozephalie. Bis heute gibt es weder eine Impfung zur Infektionsprävention noch eine spezifische Therapie zur Behandlung der ZIKA-Virus-Infektion., Am Institut für Experimentelle Innere Medizin wird in Kooperation mit dem Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie in Berlin ein Verfahren entwickelt, welches es ermöglicht, unter Verwendung der CRISPR/Cas9-Technologie Wirtszellfaktoren zu identifizieren, die für eine ZIKA-Virus-Infektion essentiell sind. Für eine Infektion relevante Wirtszellfaktoren stellen potenzielle Zielstrukturen für eine therapeutische Intervention dar. Die Entwicklung neuer, effizienter Therapieansätze erfordert insbesondere ein fundiertes Verständnis der Regulation und Funktion von Genen während der Infektion. Ziel ist es, Substanzen zu identifizieren, die die Funktion dieser Zielstrukturen spezifisch inhibieren und so die Infektion unterbinden, um neue antivirale Wirkstoffe zu ermitteln.
Learntech Accelerator (LEA)
Based upon the finding from IMAILE PCP of Innovative STEM/PLE (, www.imaile.eu, ), the project LEARNTECH ACCELERATOR ( LEA) will take a quantum leap from being one standalone project to critical mass of European procurers who will:, Unify LEA procurers network and "Observer Cities ", Implement IMAILE PCP lessons learned as LEA baseline, Recommend a LEARNTECH Demand policy - 2030 to reduce fragmentation of the public sector, Enable increased dialogue between demand/ supply side, Provide transfer of knowledge for the LEARNTECH community ( other procurers, industry, start-ups , end - users, and policy level) in order to remove barriers of innovative procurement, Prepare one PPI ( based upon IMAILE) and one additional future PCP, Speed up awareness rising of innovative procurement including cross sectorial value chains, LEA WP- METHODOLOGY is developed in order to achieve the above mentioned objectives and with focus to "ACCELERATE":, LEA network collaboration ( WP 2), Demand policy recommendations ( WP 3), Dialogue tools/ venues between demand & supply side ( WP 4), Knowledge transfer within the community ( WP5), Awareness rising on EU level ( WP 6), This unified and knowledge based action will result in the LEA ROADMAP 2030 including:, -Critical mass of European procurers of LEARNTECH in collaboration acting first customers, User cases for evidence of cost& time saving/ standardization/ interoperability as results of innovative procurement, 2030 LEARNTECH market foresight and demand policy, Training material/methods/tools for increased competence and dynamic dialogue among LEARNTECH community, One prepared PPI absed upon IMAILE with lessons learned, One addtional prepared PCP identified in LEA Implementation of the LEA project shall contribute to SMART, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE DEMAND BASED DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGY
ADAS&ME : Adaptive Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to support incapacitated drivers and Mitigate Effectively risks through tailor made Human Machine Interaction under automation
ADAS&ME will develop adapted Advanced Driver Assistance Systems that incorporate driver/rider state, situational/environmental context, and adaptive interaction to automatically transfer control between vehicle and driver/rider and thus ensure safer and more efficient road usage. The work is based around 7 Use Cases, covering a large proportion of driving on European roads. Experimental research will be carried out on algorithms for driver state monitoring as well as on Human-Machine-Interaction and automation transitions. Robust detection/prediction algorithms will be developed for driver/rider state monitoring towards different driver states, such as fatigue, sleepiness, stress, inattention and impairing emotions, employing existing and novel sensing technologies, taking into account traffic and weather conditions and personalizing them to individual driver s physiology and driving behavior. Further, the core development includes multimodal and adaptive warning and intervention strategies based on current driver state and severity of scenarios. The final outcome is a driver/rider state monitoring system, integrated within vehicle automation. The system will be validated with a wide pool of drivers/riders under simulated and real road conditions and under different driver/rider states. This challenging task has been undertaken by a multidisciplinary European Consortium of 30 Partners, including an original equipment manufacturer per vehicle type and 7 direct suppliers., The Cognitive Systems Group at Otto-von-Guericke-University will contribute to this consortium by providing analysis of emotional content of acoustic utterances in the car. We will also engage in information fusion of data from various modalities (acoustic, video, and others) and analyzing this data for identifying markers for detecting drowsiness or a loss of control state of the driver, thus contributing to driver assistance in several use cases, such as cars, busses, trucks, and motorcycles.
EGRET-Plus European Glaucoma Research Training Program-Plus
Glaucoma is the most common age-related neurodegenerative eye-disease in western society and one of the four major blinding eye diseases (cataract, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy). Glaucoma is characterized by a progressive loss of retinal nerve cells. The early changes are often unnoticed by the patient. If untreated or detected too late, glaucoma will end up in blindness, yielding a profound loss of quality of life for the individual and major costs to society. In Europe, there are approximately 3 million people with glaucoma. They all need chronic medical care and, despite of that, approximately 15% of them will become blind during their lifetime., Increasing our knowledge on glaucoma and the aging visual system in general has tremendous potential for innovation in glaucoma care and can thus positively impact the future of millions of European citizens : 1) it enables the development of new tools for the early detection of glaucoma; 2) it can inspire the development and implementation of new treatments; 3) contributes to our understanding of the relationships between various neurodegenerative diseases, and 4) contributes to improving healthy aging in general., Given the vast complexity of the disease, we need researchers that are deeply knowledgeable about glaucoma and intimately familiar with the many different techniques required to study all aspects of glaucoma and the aging visual system: from functional test to anatomy, from gene to ganglion cell, from retina to brain. Generally, knowledge, and thus training, is fragmented and researchers that have been broadly trained are only scarcely, if not at all, available at present., To overcome this, EGRET, the European Glaucoma Research Training Program, will aim its efforts at teaching young researchers in how to acquire and apply new quantitative knowledge on the aging visual system in health and disease (specifically glaucoma).
Stories of Tomorrow - Students Visions on the Future of Space Exploration
The STORIES project aims to contribute to a dynamic future of children's ebooks evolution by a) developing user-friendly interfaces for young students (10-12 years old) to create their own multi-path stories expressing their imagination and creativity and b) by integrating the latest AR, VR and 3D printing technologies to visualize their stories in numerous innovative ways. In the heart of this intervention lies the vision for integrated curricula and deeper learning outcomes. The project will offer these innovations through a single environment, the STORIES Storytelling Platform which will be the place for students artistic expression and scientific inquiry at the same time. The creations of the students (paintings, models, dioramas and constructions, 3D objects and landscapes, animations, science videos and science theater plays) will be captured and integrated in the form of interactive ebooks. The STORIES technical team will design advanced interfaces in which students will be able to augment characters, buildings, greenhouses and different 3D geometrical structures on a tablet or their computer and inspect their work using a mobile device. The outcome of their work will be detected and tracked, and the video stream is augmented with an animated 3D version of the character or the artifact. The platform will be tested in real settings in Germany, Greece, Portugal, France, Finland and Japan, involving 60 teachers and 3000 students (5th and 6th grade). To achieve this, the proposed project is developing a novel cooperation between creative industries and electronic publishing, educational research institutions in the field of STEM, schools and informal learning centers. The consortium includes 15 partners from Europe, USA, Japan and Australia. But STORIES is going beyond that: The consortium will cooperate in the design of the platform and in the development of the story-line mechanism with Eugene (Eugenios) Trivizas, well known writer of children's books.
PHOSPHOR - Synthesis of Novel Phosphor Sensor Particles for Advanced Flame Diagnostics
Synthesis of Novel Phosphor Sensor Particles for Advanced Flame Diagnostics Phosphors are ceramic materials that emit luminescence following illumination by laser light. Either the colour or the duration of the luminescence depend on the temperature of the material, and so phosphors can be used for remote temperature measurements. Researchers at the Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik (LTT), Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Beyrau), Germany, use thermographic phosphors to measure the temperature and velocity of turbulent flows, by seeding nano- to micrometre-size phosphor particles into the gas or liquid as a flow "tracer"., The primary objective of this research project is to increase the temperature range and sensitivity of this measurement technique via the synthesis of new phosphor particles that are optimised for flow temperature sensing. The research fellow, Dr. Christopher Abram from LTT, will collaborate with the Advanced Combustion and Propulsion Lab (ACP), Princeton University, USA, who have developed innovative synthesis methods capable of producing phosphor particles with specific luminescence properties, size and morphology. At ACP, Dr. Abram will learn how to produce phosphor particles using these advanced methods, and then return to LTT where new materials will be produced and characterised., The project will result in new temperature measurement capabilities for fundamental and applied combustion research, allowing the design of cleaner, fuel-efficient engines in key automotive, aerospace and power generation industries, thereby consuming fewer natural resources and reducing environmental impact. These novel materials will also find use in other remote sensing applications e.g. for biomedicine, as well as in lighting and display technologies, creating further opportunities for collaboration with Princeton University and other research institutions and industry., This project has received funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innivation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 708068.
Stories of Tomorrow - Students Visions on the Future of Space Exploration
The STORIES project aims to contribute to a dynamic future of childrens ebooks evolution by a) developing user-friendly interfaces for young students (10-12 years old) to create their own multi-path stories expressing their imagination and creativity and b) by integrating the latest AR, VR and 3D printing technologies to visualize their stories in numerous innovative ways. In the heart of this intervention lies the vision for integrated curricula and deeper learning outcomes. The project will offer these innovations through a single environment, the STORIES Storytelling Platform which will be the place for students artistic expression and scientific inquiry at the same time. The creations of the students (paintings, models, dioramas and constructions, 3D objects and landscapes, animations, science videos and science theatre plays) will be captured and integrated in the form of interactive ebooks. The STORIES technical team will design advanced interfaces in which students will be able to augment characters, buildings, greenhouses and different 3D geometrical structures on a tablet or their computer and inspect their work using a mobile device. The outcome of their work will be detected and tracked, and the video stream is augmented with an animated 3D version of the character or the artefact. The platform will be tested in real settings in Germany, Greece, Portugal, France, Finland and Japan, involving 60 teachers and 3000 students (5th and 6th grade). To achieve this, the proposed project is developing a novel cooperation between creative industries and electronic publishing, educational research institutions in the field of STEM, schools and informal learning centres. The consortium includes 15 partners from Europe, USA, Japan and Australia. But STORIES is going beyond that: The consortium will cooperate in the design of the platform and in the development of the storyline mechanism with Eugene (Eugenios) Trivizas, well known writer of children's books.
NextGenVis ITN - Training the Next Generation of European Visual Neuroscientists for the benefit of innovation in health care and high-tech industry - Stability and plasticity of cortical wiring in albinism
This project aims at uncovering the mechanisms of cortical wiring in the face of abnormal visual development. Usually, eye-brain connections are highly stereotypical. However, albinism radically alters the spatial connection patterns due to a malformed optic chiasm, which makes it a powerful model to study plasticity in the human visual system. Astonishingly, although the representations of the left and right side of the world are completely intermixed in the primary visual cortex in albinism, the patients see equally well in both hemifields. High-resolution fMRI at 7 Tesla magnetic field strength will be used to quantify how the altered connections affect cortical structure and function.
COST Action FA1401: European network on the factors affecting the gastro-intestinal microbial balance and the impact on the health status of pigs (PiGutNet)
The use of antibiotics in pigs is still widespread and is used to control enteric infectious diseases. This practice can spread antibiotic resistance in the agricultural sector and pose a threat to consumer health. PiGutNet will establish the first european network to address this issue, with specialists in all areas of research. the network coordinates databases and designs innovative tools to define the status of enteric eubiosis in pigs. The main outputs are genome/metabolome-wide association studies and the provision of a roadmap to increase pig resistance to Git infections, leading to improved animal health and welfare, consumer protection and competitive advantage for European agriculture.
ChemMultimodal - Promotion of Multimodal Transport in Chemical Logitics
The chemical industry is an important economic sector in Central Europe with 117 billion Euro turnover and 340.000, employees. The chemical companies are important logistic stakeholders responsible for 8% of freight transport. The, industry has the objective to strengthen multimodal transport and modal shift from road to rail with strong focus on, improvement of safety and security in combination with increased logistics efficiency. The optimisation of the supply, chain is a crucial for long-term competitiveness., The main objective of ChemMultimodal is the promotion of multimodal transport of chemical goods by coordination, and facilitation of cooperation between chemical companies, specialised logistics service providers (LSP), terminal, operators and public authorities in chemical regions in CE., Based on a detailed analysis of the needs for improving multimodal transport of chemical goods, the project will, develop a toolbox to support chemical companies and LSP in their strategic and operational planning for increasing, the share of multimodal transport. This toolbox will be tested in 7 pilots with 35 chemical companies in the partner, countries to facilitate real modal shift. In these pilots it is the objective to increase multimodal transport by 10% and, reduce CO2 footprint by 5% until the end of project duration. Furthermore 6 Training Seminars will be implemented, to teach usage of the tool to additional 90 companies. 1 Common Strategy and 7 Regional/National Action Plans will, be developed to continue and intensify activities after the project end.
HomeHemo
In einem Pilotprojekt wird POCT Technologie (point-of-care) Technologie in Bezug auf ihre Eignung zur Heimversorgung von Kindern mit Krebserkrankungen evaluiert. Projektleitung eines in Schleswig-Holstein befindlichen Pilotprojektes.
Beyond EDP, Improve the RIS3 effectiveness through the management of the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP)
The Beyond EDP project aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial discovery process in Europe, boosting the Regional Innovation smart specialisation strategy (RIS3, in short) adopted by Europe in 2014. Knowledge institutes and businesses need each other for innovation and to turn that innovation into saleable products and practical applications. SMEs can fulfil an important role here. Among SMEs are leaders, developers, early adopters, and followers. Most companies can be classed as followers, meaning that innovation is far from a priority for many entrepreneurs., How can we stimulate European businesses, knowledge institutes, and relevant partners to join forces to discover new ideas which could lead to innovation? That is the central question in Beyond EDP, a European Interreg project formed by eleven partners from nine countries.
BLENDED INTENSIVE PROGRAM Artificial Intelligence in Health and Sport
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force in our society entering industries like robotic, financial service, agriculture, medicine, transportation, defense. In the context of human well-being, AI also entered the field of healthcare, lifestyle, and elite sport with the target of prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, and prescription. The jointed action of computer science and medicine science produced the application of AI in the field of healthcare with the goal to improve patients’ diagnosis and care, to explore new solutions for diseases, and to lead better discoveries in research. AI is revolutionizing the management of health, acting on the promotion of healthy lifestyle, for physical activity and healthy diet. Through AI, internet platforms, smartphone apps, and wearable technology can be used to monitor and track individual levels of physical activity, vital parameters, sleep patterns, daily food intake. AI acts to collect and elaborate real-time data and to provide personalized suggestions and recommendations for exercise and nutritional plans. AI has already had a hug impact on the sport industry. Sport organizations and sport clubs consistently use AI for games, teams, and athletes’ statistics, performance analysis, youth scouting, and monitoring of training load. Moreover, new line of research has been developed to explore the application of AI for data analytics and evidence-based practice., The proposed BIP will disseminate current knowledge and future directions regarding the application of AI for the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle in general population, and for performance optimization and injury prevention in athletes., The competences acquired in the BIP will be divided in 4 modules:, - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, - Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges, - Artificial Intelligence in Health: Research and Applications, - Artificial Intelligence in Sport: Research and Applications, The proposed BIP pursues the EU GREEN educational strategies concerning the current challenges of the society and new frontiers of science and technology. In fact, AI rapidly became a new frontier of science capable to face the global changes and to tackle social challenges. The application of AI in health and sport can jointly interconnect the domains of life and society, as well-being, economy, behavior, psychology, public health, marketing, at both local and global level. The BIP will consist of lectures and workshops, in both virtual and in-presence modalities, with the participation of experts from educational institutions and industry to explore theoretical bases of AI and practical applications in sport and health sectors. The BIP will be built to guarantee a proficient exchange among students and scholars from different cultural contexts and expertise.
MICRO QUEST: Innovative Quality Evaluation Strategy for Micro-credentials in non-formal VET in Europe
Die Europäische Kommission definiert Micro Credentials (MCs) im Hochschulbereich als "eine Qualifikation, mit der Lernergebnisse nachgewiesen werden, die in einem kurzen, transparent bewerteten Kurs oder Modul erworben wurden.", Das Projekt MICRO QUEST will angesichts großer Veränderungen im europäischen Berufsbildungssektor die breite Einführung und Verwendung von Micro Credentials in der beruflichen Bildung untersuchen. Unter anderem sollen Fragen zur Qualitätssicherung von MCs und zur gegenseitigen Anerkennung durch verschiedene Einrichtungen formaler und nicht-formaler Bildungsanbieter innerhalb Europas diskutiert werden., Dazu werden verschiedene Modelle der Qualitätssicherung untersucht und im Kontakt mit Akteuren im Berufsbildungsbereich die Anforderungen für den Einsatz von MCs konkretisiert. Daraus resultierend wird ein Leitfaden für potentielle Anbieter von MCs entwickelt und vorgestellt sowie ein europaweites Netzwerk für berufsbildende Einrichtungen mit MCs aufgebaut.
EDUREFORM Mitigate the Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Indian Society: Education Reform for Future and In-Service School Teachers
Coordinated by Chitkara University, EDUREFORM is a three-year project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, comprising four Indian universities, four European universities as well as two Secondary schools and one SME, having expertise in the field of education. The final aim of EDUREFORM is to promote consciousness and to empower Indian future and in-service secondary school teachers to mitigate the expected societal impact of the 4IR.
KAZDUAL - Implementierung von dualen Strukturen in Kasachstan
KAZDUAL setzt an der durch Atameken (The national chamber of entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan) anerkannten Notwendigkeit der Verbesserung der Kompetenzen von Hochschulabsolvent*innen in Kasachstan an und bezieht sich dabei auf zahlreiche Umfragen und Rückmeldungen von Arbeitgeber*innen, die die fehlenden beruflichen Fähigkeiten von Absolvent*innen beim Eintritt in den Arbeitsmarkt kritisieren., Die Erprobung eines dualen Systems mit theoretischen und praktischen Ausbildungsanteilen auf der Grundlage der in den EU-Partnerländern durchgeführten dualen Berufs- und Hochschulausbildungen wird es den Studierenden ermöglichen, arbeitsmarktrelevante Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten zu erwerben, wodurch die Beschäftigungsfähigkeit individueller Absolvent*innen nachhaltig erhöht wird., KAZDUAL wird dabei Handlungsempfehlungen für die Anpassung einer dualen Hochschulbildung geben, die unterschiedliche Bedürfnisse und Interessen von Arbeitgebenden, Hochschulen und Studierenden in verschiedenen Industriesektoren betrachtet. Dabei werden die Hochschulen beim Aufbau und der Umsetzung der dualen Hochschulbildung und von Partnerschaften von öffentlichem und privatem Sektor unterstützt. Zeitgleich steht die Schaffung eines Netzwerks und eines Forschungszentrums für die duale Bildung und Berufsausbildung im Vordergrund um eine Verstetigung von Forschungs- und Netzwerkarbeit zu garantieren., Durch die Entwicklung von Richtlinien zur Qualitätssicherung, Verfahren und vereinbarten Standards durch das Konsortium wird sichergestellt, dass der Bedarf an flexibler dualer Ausbildung in Verbindung mit hochwertigen Studienprogrammen erfüllt wird. Geleitet von dem Ziel der Qualitätsverbesserung und -sicherung für die Berufsausbildung, hat KAZDUAL ebenfalls das Ziel, die Transparenz innerhalb der Hochschulen und Universitäten in Kasachstan zu stärken und zur Harmonisierung der Ansätze im Umgang mit dem dualen System der Berufs- und Hochschulausbildung beizutragen.
ACSOL: Acquiring Crisis-proof Skills through Online Learning
The ultimate aim of the ACSOL project is to expand adult digital skills training provision through online learning targeting two covid-19 vulnerable sectors: workers in social care/health support and workers in the entertainment, arts and culture sector., To this purpose, the Consortium will design and develop an e-learning toolkit, which will enhance the digital literacy skills and specific skills of current low-skilled workers, through training so that they can cope with the crisis caused by COVID-19 and increase their chances of improving their working conditions., To create the conditions for making lifelong learning and employability a competitive advantage for workers in social care and entertainment, arts and culture activities in our participating regions., To develop new digital approaches to training matching specific sectorial needs on social care and entertainment, arts and culture activities., To provide low-skilled workers and micro size companies with digital skills through open educational resources., To increase the awareness of EU business and VET community about the importance of supporting workers with digital skill.
Talent HRM Management
The aim of the TALENT Erasmus+ project (2019-2021) is to establish a two-year master programme in HRM in six universities in Central Asia., Coached by EU universities in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Greece, two universities in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan are developing an innovative academic environment to teach and study HRM insights and practices adapted to the needs and specificities of the socio-economic challenges the Central Asian region is confronted with. The first cohort of students is expected to start its education in September 2020., Through its various objectives and activities, such as teacher trainings and seminars, the TALENT project intends to develop a network between universities and public and private actors allowing for a long-lasting exchange of expertise in HRM as well as to create the incentives for mobilities between the partner universities of students, teachers and researchers interested in HRM in Central Asia.
FACE-IT: Fostering Awarenness on program Contents in higher Education using IT tools
Fostering high-quality Higher Education (HE) requires strengthened quality assurance in the design, implementation, execution and evaluation of HE programs (HEPs). This quality assurance process involves multiple stakeholders with different perspectives and conceptualizations:, - PROGRAM BOARDS plan and design curricula mostly in terms of ILOs, PLOs and TLAs, - ADMINISTRATORS evaluate programs and communicate with other stakeholders, - TEACHERS develop, revise and implement courses, mostly based on the taught procedures and concepts (PCs), - STUDENTS are naturally inclined to see course and program contents through PCs., Unfortunately, the efficacy of quality assuring HE is currently limited by the heterogeneity of the tools and conceptualizations of the stakeholders. To improve this, we identify the need for tools that: 1) aid executing the HE quality assurance processes; 2) support decision makers in maintaining HEPs; 3) clarify the relations between ILOs, PLOs, and TLAs to all stakeholders; 4) promote awareness about program contents and their relations; 5) establish a common language among stakeholders., Our main objective is to develop tools that solve these needs, improve the quality of education and increase the employability of our candidates by helping:, - students to understand how the contents of different courses connect and expand on each other - teachers and program boards to improve their awareness of how course contents flow within the program and contribute to the PLOs, - administrators to inspect and assess program quality, - all stakeholders to establish a common language to ease their communication., To achieve our goals we involve participants from STEM faculties from different backgrounds, geographic areas, and academic cultures., The consortium includes:, - NTNU, hosting several educational centers whose scope and expertise overlap with the intentions of the Face-IT project, has considerable expertise in the development and quality assurance of HEPs, and hosts Norway's largest academic environment within teacher education and educational research at the Department of Teacher Education;, - Uppsala University (UU), renown for its excellence in research and teaching and its long lasting traditions, with broad research and development activities in pedagogy, teaching, and related topics;, - University of Padova, with broad expertise in innovative teaching and learning in the framework of active learning, in the development and creation of MOOCs, and with a constant strive for improving teaching and learning, involving students’ voices and promoting change at different levels., - Otto-von-Guericke University, with a broad expertise in fostering multi-cultural, multi-gender and disparate student audiences in its teaching, and with multi-disciplinary programs that combine several aspects of modern knowledge;, - the Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles, with its peculiarity of offering several interfaculty programs shared with other HE realities, such as the Solvay Business School, and a wide range of multi-disciplinary projects., Towards our goals, we plan to introduce a language that enables teachers and students to describe program contents in the intuitive terms of PCs and investigate how to connect them to the associated PLOs, ILOs, and TLAs. This language will enable representing the students’ learning process as flows of PCs, that will capture graphically how course contents are expected to ladder in time, and thus represent entire programs in an alternative and quantitatively analysable fashion., The developed methods will be implemented in easily usable and interpretable IT tools that provide actionable information and decision-making support to each stakeholder. The tools will be tested on several course- and program-wide field tests. All results will be disseminated through two multiplier events at NTNU and UU, and through scientific open access publications and a dedicated project website., The project will thus produce intellectual outputs including methods to: derive ontological descriptions of PCs in HEPs; merge PCs with TLAs, ILOs, and PLOs into knowledge flow graphs; represent and analyse courses and programs in terms of these flows graphs. These outputs will thus support defining program contents in a way that every stakeholder can relate to, promoting thus acceptance and usage., This project will revolutionize how to develop, assess and manage HEPs and courses by empowering and engaging the stakeholders with a particular attention to students and teachers: students will indeed be more aware of why they study what they study, enabling them to perform self- assessment on their knowledge in relation to upcoming courses. Teachers will be supported in implementing constructive alignment principles and maintain overall program consistency. Our tools will also help executing quality assurance operations, and help universities to share information among them and with society.
Enhancing Green Economy in three Asian Countries (EGEA)
The transition to sustainable development is an urgent necessity for the Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal and India, since at present, these countries’ socio-economic development is largely based on the consumption of natural resources. Today, these countries face challenges that pose a threat to their future sustainable development, the most important of which are: depletion of natural resources without creation of effective alternatives, loss of basic natural ecosystems and stagnation of human capital., In 2012, at the conference on sustainable development "RIO+20" in Brazil, KG expressed its commitment to sustainable development through promoting the priorities of the "green economy", which was confirmed in the signing of the final document "The Future We Want". This document has become a call for action for governments, business leaders and the UN, to support countries interested in the transition to the "green" economy. In Nepal, there are numerous challenges in adapting and adopting Green Economy policies starting by the lack of national policies. Capacity and skill development, technology adaptation, transfer, and retrofitting to suit Nepal’s hilly and mountainous terrains, need for large investments and of course adapting to and mitigating against climate change are some of the major challenges. Notwithstanding these constraints, green economic policies and programmes can be means to achieve sustainable development in this mountainous region. There is need to document good case studies for drawing lessons so that future green growth pathway cans be charted and bigger impacts can be achieved. India has become since 1991 one of the fastest growing major economies. However today, there are many environmental problems and issues that slows down its progress. The concept of green economy has been discussed in recent years for achieving sustainability through inclusive growth and development. Thus, sustainability has become a key element of the national agenda of these 3 countries., One of important aspects of economic development of these three Asian countries is to maintain the principles of environmental sustainability, because economic growth and population increase force expansion and intensification of land use, growth of food and industrial production and depletion of natural resources. The needs identified hitherto and the lack of specialists in green economy prompted the identification of a project goal link to the need of modernizing curriculum. However, effective and outcome oriented green economy implementation requires multi-disciplinary planning, interdisciplinary implementation, and effective and participatory monitoring and evaluation. The introduction of green economy concepts in law, business, economics, environmental studies or management programs should support economic development adopting curricula to changes in labour market and to an increasing demand for new "green” skills. The project specific objectives is thus to stress the fostering of green skills in different target groups (students, teachers, professionals, young generations) and for different subject areas., Green economy and green skills as well as other aspects of sustainable development are of global importance, therefore the project will have a significant European added value. A green economy can generate as much growth and employment as the so called "brown” economy, and outperforms the latter in the medium and long run, while yielding significantly more environmental and social benefits. Of course, moving towards a green economy will require Asian governments, HEIs, civil society and leading businesses to engage in this transition collaboratively.
Communities and Students together (CaST)
Context:, Globally, there are growing calls for Higher Education Institutions to become more civically engaged and socially relevant and there is increased public interest in the impact of universities on their localities and regions. Engaged learning facilitates students to apply theory to real-world contexts outside of the University and to co-produce knowledge with and for the community. Engaged learning provides students with the skills which increase their employability, and improve their personal and professional development, while communities gain access to skills to help develop, evaluate or communicate their work., Objectives, : The central aim of Communities and Students Together (CaST) will be to advance our knowledge and understanding of what constitutes a successful and sustainable engaged learning programme. We will explore existing initiatives and aim to incorporate successful elements in a series of new sustainable programmes in each partner university which enable community-based engaged learning for students to co-produce knowledge with and for the community. Participants: We will work with academics and education experts in each partner institution who want to improve the learning experience through innovative methods of engaged learning. We will aim to include students from all backgrounds and disciplines who wish to take part in an immersive and experiential learning programme working on a real world societal challenge. We will seek to work with local communities and civil society organisations who wish to develop mutually beneficial opportunities for students to work on real world challenges., Activities:, We will review engaged learning in the international context and in each partner country, and will seek to understand the practicalities and structure of existing initiatives, as well as capturing their impact on all stakeholders. Our Case Study Compendium will include an overview of the engaged learning landscape in each partner institution, and will provide an in-depth exploration of one or more case studies of engaged learning from each institution. Each partner will incorporate lessons from the previous two outputs in the development of an innovative engaged learning programme. The synthesis report will provide details of the engaged learning programme and pedagogy as well as a detailed evaluation of each new programme, and its impact on all stakeholders and the wider society. This output should help others in the field tounderstand what took place, providing enough detail to transfer the new innovations. At the end of the project we will hold an international conference and publish a collection of papers written by invited academics and community representatives. This output is likely to include discussions on the practical methodology of engaged learning, pedagogical strategies and approaches of engaged learning, as well as perspectives from both higher education institutes and communities, of the benefits of engaged learning in different contexts. Finally, we will create an Engaged Learning toolkit, which will be freely available online and will include e.g. Guidance for university strategy formation around engaged learning; Guidance on how to provide immersive and experiential learning programmes which tackle societal challenges; and a policy focussed short paper seeking to unpick the successful and less successful elements and processes of engaged learning., Results and impact, : CaST will provide each partner the opportunity to explore the role that engaged learning plays in its institution, on its students and on its local community. The project will create a network of European institutions with an interest in engaged learning and will provide them with a platform to share their knowledge and experience of what works and does not work. Through the exploration of engaged learning in six different European Institutions, we anticipate that we will identify different modes of engaged learning practice, each with different drivers, enablers and barriers to successful engaged learning practice., Longer term benefits, : We anticipate lasting benefits to all partners involved, to their students and to their local societies. As well as leaving a legacy of shared knowledge, the project will design and pilot a new engaged learning initiative in each partner institution. The ambition is for each of these initiatives to be mutually beneficial, and sustainable beyond the duration of the project funding. Moreover, it is anticipated that each Pilot may have the potential to be replicated or further scaled-up within other disciplines within each institution, or within other HEIs with a similar social context. We will also seek to understand any additional impacts including contribution to curricula or pedagogy and in making academic research accessible to the broader community.
Enhancing Green Economy in three Asian Countries (EGEA)
Angesichts des Wissens um die Bedeutung der "Green Economy" für weltweite wirtschaftliche Entwicklungen besteht das Hauptziel von EGEA, kurz für "Enhancing Green Economy in three Asian Countries", darin, nachhaltiges Denken und Verhalten auf allen Bildungsebenen in drei Ländern Asiens (Kirgisistan, Nepal und Indien) zu fördern. Hierbei sollen Hochschulen als Katalysatoren des Wandels fungieren und diese Rolle soll mithilfe des Projekts gestärkt werden. Im Mittelpunkt steht das übergeordnete Ziel, die Wechselbeziehung zwischen Umwelt und Wirtschaft in den Partnerländern und ihren Gesellschaften stärker zu thematisieren in den nationalen Bildungsprogrammen nachhaltig zu implementieren ., Basierend auf früheren Kooperationen und Erfahrungen ist das Konsortium der Ansicht, dass zur Gewährleistung der Nachhaltigkeit von "Green Economy"-Initiativen Bottom-up- und Top-down-Ansätze eingesetzt werden sollten. Zu den fünf Hauptstrategien gehören, die Entwicklung modularer Programme zur Stärkung von Wissen und Praxis in Bezug auf "Green Economy", die in bestehende oder neue Programme an Partnerhochschulen integriert werden sollen, die Verbesserung des lebenslangen Lernens durch Blended Learning-Angebote, die sich an die Erwachsenenbildung in "Green Economy" und verwandte Bereiche richten, die Stärkung von Public Affairs-Abteilungen und Marketing-Einheiten, um die Rolle der Hochschulen als Förderer von Green Behaviour in der lokalen Gesellschaft zu erleichtern sowie, die Entwicklung von Werbekampagnen und Programmen, um nachhaltiges Handeln in der Vernetzung von Schulen und Hochschulen zu fördern.
"Escalate" - Coordinated Higher Education Institutions' Responses to Digitalisation
Digitalization is transforming the skills needed by Europe's working population to successfully engage in the world of work in a globalized modern economy. Consequently, national education systems must swiftly and appropriately respond to the challenges digitalization poses. Digital transformation is generating a fierce debate among education providers, policy-makers, economists and industry leaders about its societal impact. As digitalization disrupts society ever more profoundly, concern is growing about how it is affecting issues such as jobs, wages, inequality, health, resource efficiency and security. Current estimates of global job losses due to digitalization range as high as 2 billion by 2030 (World Economic Forum). There is currently great uncertainty, with concerns also about its impact on wages and working conditions. Within the European Union, the European Commission's Digital Economy Society Index for 2018 shows that EU countries face deep digital development gap and therefore "it should invest more in digital and also complete the Digital Single Market as soon as possible to boost Europe's digital performance”. Even more, the same disparity is seen on digital skills, "while Nordic countries and the U.K. have populations with notably advanced digital skills, almost half of all Europeans still lack basic technical competences”, according to the index. In this framework, ESCALATE is a strategic partnership composed by 6 partners from 5 different EU countries. The project brings together the right mix of university responsibles, educators/teachers, learners, labour market experts, alongside business and local government to offer a coordinated response to the challenges arising from digitalization. We aim to assist universities in implementing activities designed to increase the levels of digital competences for employability, upskilling, according with a growing range of employment generated by the digital economy, aligned with the needs of and opportunities offered by the labour market and linked to professional profiles. Also, we consider the dual education system and the permanent connection between both university professor (higher education) and business representatives/specialists, by combining school-based learning with work-based practice. This broader comprehensive education approach will ensure the acquirement of new digital skills and improved competences. Our project will explore what constitutes new and emerging innovative practices in understanding and responding to digitalization at university level, but also at regional and local policy levels and then prioritize producing new materials in partner's own 6 key themes, and the project has been designed to include experts within each of these thematic areas., As a result we will be in a position to engage in a second major activity - the transnational trialling (in an identified region within each country) of a successful new innovation - the Digital Skills Escalator being developed in the Exeter (sub) Region of SW England. This will require a systematic mapping of educational delivery form early school age all the way through to postgraduate and CPD educational offers and is an effective means of identifying not only where the gaps in a region/locations provision may be but also a means of identifying all of the agencies and institutions involved in digital skills delivery. Finally, the new materials and approaches developed by the partners will be combined into a new Training Course mainstreamed through Europe’s expert network of labour market observatories - the European Network for Regional Labour Market Monitoring (ENRLMM) and offered to those seeking to modernize digital skills and associated educational policies/practices in light of the threats posed by the changing world of work. ESCALATE will bring considerable impact on the community of educational providers, teachers, learners, labour market observatories and analysts across Europe to help them advise and support the decision making process on responses to digitalization. The new model will therefore help policymakers to design effective responses to the threat of digitalization, embeding digital literacy as a key educational goal and helping to grasp the job opportunities of the future. In conclusion, ESCALATE aims to understand '"university disruption" at regional and local levels and the threats posed to universities and labour market from digitalization; who are the educational institutions and organizations involved; what innovations can be employed to help understand and tackle digitalization impacts; and ultimately we seek to elicit more effective local and regional higher education institutions' responses to digitalization across Europe.
Development of a Bologna-based Master Curriculum in Resource Efficient Production Logistics (ProdLog)
ProdLog addresses the issue of a weak industrial sector in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russian Federation and focuses on enabling universities to gain and provide a profound and holistic knowledge on planning and operating sustainable production processes. For that purpose a bologna-based master curriculum with 18 modules in resource efficient production logistics will be developed and implemented in six universities of the partner countries. The academic staff will be trained with innovative teaching methods in the learning factory "Technology centre for production and logistics systems PULS" and equipped with state of the art logistics laboratories. By means of that, the understanding of logistics shall be widened - away from transport logistics to a systemic and interdisciplinary approach of applicant-oriented education, challenges with economical, political and social problems of our society.
Synthesis of curcumin metal complexes for biomedical applications
Es werden neue Metallkomplexe von Curcumin-Derivaten synthetisiert, die je nach eingesetztem Metallion verschiedene biomedizinische Anwendungen haben können (z.B. cytotoxische und antimikrobielle Eigenschaften).
Innovations in Socially Engaged Universities
The relationship between HEIs and their local communities tends to be framed around student versus local resident’s lives and ‘economic impact’. This is failing both the community for whom greater benefits are possible and the University for whom the local community presents a wonderful vehicle for collaborative engaged research., As higher education faces unprecedented public scrutiny and increasing pressures from the political, economic, social and environmental agendas, there is increased public interest in the impact of universities on their localities and regions and growing calls for universities to be more socially relevant and responsible by addressing the needs of society, both locally and globally. In recent years, the concept of the "third mission” has become popularised, referring to the social, enterprise, and innovative activities that universities perform in addition to core teaching and research tasks (Zomer and Benneworth 2011)., It is increasingly recognised that universities, when well-connected with their communities, can be a vehicle for making healthier, culturally richer and more interesting places to live, work and study. The civic university can be characterised by its ability to integrate its teaching, research and engagement with the outside world in such a way that each enhances the other without diminishing their quality (Goddard and Kempton 2016). Globally, more and more universities are integrating social responsibility into their mission statements, including those for research and teaching, arguing that higher education is improved when it gives back to the society that is responsible for funding it. Indeed, University Social Responsibility (USR) has become a core mission of many higher education institutions around the world (Timothy W. Tong, THE, April 7, 2017)., Through learning and sharing best practice, we want to drive institution-wide appreciation of and commitment to, co-production of knowledge and innovation through social engagement and citizen-led research, where the experience and expertise of individuals, communities and civic organisations is recognised, used and valued. We also want to understand how HEIs can build capacity to respond to what their local community really needs and perform or broker research (including community-based participatory action research), with and for communities, in a demand-driven way, while enhancing the civic competencies of students. A key goal underpinning the project will be to ensure that the project delivers a legacy of progress and impact that will last beyond the lifetime of the project., The central aim of this proposal is to share experience and know-how of relationships between European Universities and their civic societies and to create a platform for practitioners to work together and learn from each other. We wish to partner with other European Universities within the EUniverCities Network, to explore the means by which cities are engaging with and mobilising citizens to facilitate teaching, research or volunteering opportunities and creating innovative solutions to societal issues., Through sharing successful innovative practice, we want to better understand how we can improve reciprocity between academia and local society in order to address regional challenges and deliver local economic, social and cultural benefits and impact., We want to explore and review the different models of community or civic university partnerships such as front-door (e.g. science shops), embedded and networked partnerships and define the processes, structures and governance which best nurture successful civic university partnerships., We will explore the different approaches currently being used to include underrepresented social groups and ethnic minorities in the engagement approach and consider opportunities for improving equity throughout all stages of the collaborative process., Finally, we want to identify opportunities to scale-up successful citizen-driven approaches and use partner cities as a test bed for their deployment
Synthesis of Fe(III) complexes as MRI contrast agents
Es werden Metallkomplexe mit Fe(III) synthetisiert, die als MRT-Kontrastmittel eingesetzt werden könnten. Motivation für die Arbeit sind die in den letzten Jahren vermehrt berichteten Probleme mit Gd(III)-haltigen Kontrastmitteln.
SMART SPORT & Application No. 590457-EPP-1-2017-1-BG-SPO-SCP
Developing online educational courses for athletes and coaches;, In order to acquaint athletes and coaches with the new technologies the project foresees developing of online courses. All the coaches and athletes should be able to attend the courses independently from space and time. A team of professors and scientists will develop the courses content. Then participating institutions will organize target groups in each participating country to attend the online courses.
SMART SPORT & Application No. 590457-EPP-1-2017-1-BG-SPO-SCP
Developing online educational courses for athletes and coaches;, In order to acquaint athletes and coaches with the new technologies the project foresees developing of online courses. All the coaches and athletes should be able to attend the courses independently from space and time. A team of professors and scientists will develop the courses content. Then participating institutions will organize target groups in each participating country to attend the online courses.
CreE.A -ArleKin La création d'un espace pour la médiation sociale pour l'inclusion sociale
1. Ce projet s’appuie et bénéficie d’une première réalisation : celle du projet ArleKin, qui a réalisé le premier « Tour d’Europe des médiateurs sociaux » (539947-LLP-1-2013-1-FR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP). Il est organisé en référence explicite du "Tour de France des Compagnons”. Inscrit au patrimoine de l’UNESCO, il permet ainsi à de jeunes professionnels d’apprendre le "métier” au contact des différents Maîtres qu’ils rencontrent au cours de leur voyage et se socialisent en se retrouvant le soir dans la "Cayenne”, qui est leur résidence commune dans leur ville d’accueil. Ils obtiennent leur titre de compagnon au vu de la réalisation d’un "chef d’œuvre”, qui authentifie la maîtrise de leur "art”. Ainsi, 12 ”médiateurs compagnons" [MC] de 5 pays différents ont été accueillis par 12 "maîtres d’apprentissage”. Ils vont soutenir leur chef d’œuvre en Septembre prochain devant un jury de professionnels et d’universitaires., Ce projet a complètement validé les hypothèses suivantes :, a. La dimension nécessairement européenne de la médiation sociale : les enjeux sont les mêmes, quelque soit les pays. Si les formes professionnelles de la médiation sociale sont différentes et sont plus ou moins structurées et professionnalisées, elles se retrouvent autour d’un même positionnement de "tiers”., Et surtout, le 1, er, Tour d’Europe a montré combien les médiateurs avaient le "désir d’Europe”, l’horizon européen donnant une véritable dynamique à ces rencontres professionnelles., Ainsi, ces tours d’Europe, modestement et à leur niveau, contribuent à, construire l’Europe par le bas, ., b. Le dispositif pédagogique du « Tour d’Europe” est tout à fait pertinent pour échanger les expériences et renforcer un collectif professionnel autour des mêmes valeurs et des mêmes pratiques., En particulier, il se révèle comme étant l’instrument d’une homogénéisation des pratiques professionnelles ", par le bas, ” : au cours des voyages, par la rencontre d’autres contextes d’exercice de la médiation sociale, les MC réajustent leurs représentations et leurs pratiques.
INternationaliSation of master Programs in Russia and China in Electrical engineering - INSPIRE
Heutzutage müssen russische und chinesische Universitäten Programme anbieten, die die Gewöhnung der Absolventen an das echte Produktions- und Geschäftsumfeld fördern und ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit auf dem Arbeitsmarkt erhöhen. Um ein qualitatives Programm zu entwickeln, ist es notwendig, enge Verbindungen mit der betriebswirtschaftlichen Gemeinschaft sowie europäischen Universitäten aufzubauen, die viele Erfahrung in der Entwicklung von ähnlichen Programmen haben. Das übergeordnete Ziel ist, durch die Einführung von interdisziplinären Programmen an russischen und chinesischen Universitäten, die Qualität der Ausbildung in der Elektro- und Messtechnik und die Beschäftigungsfähigkeit der russischen und chinesischen Absolventen in diesem Bereich durch die Internationalisierung der Mastercurricula mit dem Bologna-Prozess zu verbessern. Das erste Ziel des Projekts ist das interdisziplinäre Masterstudium "Instrumententechnik und intelligente Qualitätskontrolle" zu gestalten und zu entwickeln. Das zweite Ziel des Projekts ist ein virtuelles Instrumenten-Trainingsunternehmen einzurichten, um die Erlangung von praktischen Fähigkeiten zu unterstützen und traditionellen Unterrichtskonzepte durch die Anwendung von neuer Kommunikationstechnologien zu modernisieren. Das dritte Ziel ist eine Internationalisierungsstrategie der internationalen Kooperation zur Förderung des gegenseitigen Interesses und der Mobilität von Studierenden zwischen Partneruniversitäten mittels Doppelabschlussprogrammen (DDP) zu entwickeln. Akademische Mitarbeiter und Studierende von Bildungseinrichtungen der russischen und chinesischen Ingenieurhochschulen sind ebenfalls Begünstigte des Projekts. Im weiteren Sinne sind auch alle Arbeitgeber Begünstigte, die die Möglichkeit haben Absolventen mit hochmodernen Fähigkeiten zu beschäftigen.
Strengthening of research and training capabilities for Virtual Reality applications in the private and governmental sector
The main purpose of this project is to strengthen the cooperation between the private sector and higher education institutions in order to increase the capabilities of the regional workforce and improve the overall attractiveness of the western part of the GAP region (Southeastern Anatolia Project). This project is part of the strategic initiative of Harran University (HU) to establish a Center for Virtual Reality in cooperation with stakeholders from the university, private sector and several governmental organizations. During this project the opportunities of this technology in the different vertical sectors will be shown and the necessary training requirements elaborated in detail.
Investing in Entrepreneurial Universities in Caucasus and Central Asia (EUCA-INVEST)
Das Projekt hat die Entwicklung von Aus- und Weiterbildungskonzepten für junge Fachkräfte mit dem Fokus auf Entrepreneurship zum Ziel. Es werden Kreativlabore (CreaLabs) geplant und aufgebaut, Bildungsprogramme entwickelt und pilotiert.
Modernising Human Resources Managemetn in South Mediterranean Higher Education - RISE
Da die Länder, auf die RISE ausgerichtet ist (Jordanien, Tunesien, Algerien und Marokko), erleben alle die oben genannten Schwierigkeiten. Es gibt unter anderem einen allgemeinen Mangel an Struktur von Ausbildungsprogramme für Mitarbeiter, geringe Verwendung von elektronischen Steuerungswerkzeugen zur Vereinfachung der Verfahren und eine schwache Kultur bezüglich der Meritokratie, wie zum Beispiel in dem Bericht der Weltbank über die Reformen in der öffentlichen Verwaltung 2011 ("Reports on Public Administration Reforms") und dem Bericht über der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Arabischen Welt 2013 ("Arab World Competitiveness Report") hervorgehoben wird. Regionale Schwierigkeiten wurden auch gründlich auf dem Tempus-Seminar zum Thema "Personalwesen in der öffentlichen Hochschulbildung im südlichen Mittelmeerraum" ("Management of Human Resources in Public Higher Education in the Southern Mediterranean") diskutiert, welches im Juni 2013 in Nikosia stattfand. Experten erkannten das vorhandene Verbesserungspotenzial, wenn das Personal an den Hochschuleinrichtungen optimal verwaltet und genutzt werden soll. Es wurde ebenso betont, dass die Erhaltung einer hohen Motivation vom administrativen und technischen Personals das größte Hindernis in der Region zu sein scheint. In allen Sitzungen wurde die "zu hohe Sicherheit" der Beschäftigung von den Teilnehmern verdeutlicht. Es wurde auch darauf hingewiesen, dass die Pläne und Strategien, die in der Region entwickelt werden, oft nicht umgesetzt oder zumindest nicht überwacht werden. Die Teilnehmer waren sich einig, dass die Reform des Arbeitsrechts von wesentlicher Bedeutung ist, um Verbesserungen in diesem Bereich durchzusetzen. Einige dieser Befunde werden von anderen Experten und Arbeiten unterstützt., Der Hauptzweck von RISE in diesem Szenario ist zur Hochschulreformagenda im südlichen Mittelmeerraum ("South Mediterranean Higher Education Reform Agenda") durch die Modernisierung des Personalwesens beizutragen. Dieses globale Ziel soll mit Hilfe von drei fokussierten, spezifischen Maßnahmen umgesetzt werden:, Der Aufbau von Kapazitäten im Personalwesen der Hochschulen im südlichen Mittelmeerraum mit dem Ziel einer besseren Organisationseffizienz, Schaffung eines regionalen Netzwerkes zum Personalwesens als Forum für den Austausch von bewährten Praktiken, Konzeption und Entwicklung von institutionellen Strategien im Personalwesen der Hochschulen im in südlichen Mittelmeerraum
European Cooperative Framework for Dual Learning (EuroDuaLE)
Ziel des Projektes ist die Entwicklung eines Handbuches zur Entwicklung von europäischen und kooperativen dualen Aus- und Weiterbildungsprogrammen in Europa. Hierzu entwickeln Partner aus Italien, Spanien, Großbritannien, Belgien und Deutschland verschiedene Studien, Bildungsprogramme und führen diese in Pilotphasen durch.
Mini Recreation Olympic "Recrea Olympic"
The main objective of the project is to create a network of contacts between faculties /departments/institutes of the universities in the five countries that border Poland and three Polish universities whose mission is to promote physical activity for Participants, including citizens of Warsaw, in the context of personal, social and professional development., This will result in an original program of the European Week of Sport 2016. The main objective of the cooperation between the universities, on status as participants, involved in the project will be to plan and organize the Mini Recreation Olympic (RecreaOlympic) which will promote traditional games and recreational activities associated with the cultural heritage of the countries participating in the project. The RecreaOlympic will be a new method and a form of encouraging students and local people to take on physical activity in a fun way. The project will be summarized during a scientific conference. Materials from the conference will be published as the author's monograph.
Ultrasound Cavitation in sOft Materials
UCOM is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network; a joint research training and doctoral programme, funded by the EU and implemented by a partnership of high profile universities, research institutions, and non-academic organisations that are located in 8 different countries., UCOM is the acronym of the project ", U, ltrasound, C, avitation in s, O, ft, M, aterials”. It starts on 1st October 2018 and ends on 30th September 2022. The UCOM network is international (includes beneficiaries and partners from the EU, Switzerland, US, Japan and China), interdisciplinary (mechanical, physics, medical and biomedical technology fields), intersectoral (includes academic and non-academic institutions) and innovative (addresses topics not studied before)., 15 doctoral candidates will be recruited by the research-focused organisations of the consortium to develop, improve and validate new state-of-the-art cavitation models and interaction with soft materials (e.g. tissues) against both existing and new experimental data. At the same time, the UCOM project will give the young researchers the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and expertise but also to create strategic partnerships with leading institutions worldwide, preparing them this way for a successful career, either in the public or the private sector.
ERC Starting Grant ImmProDynamics, Dissecting the interplay between the dynamics of immune responses and pathogen proliferation in vivo
Pathogen proliferation has profound implications for its persistence, treatment strategies, and the induction and execution of protective immune responses. In vivo, pathogen proliferation rates are heterogenic, confronting the immune system with a variety of microbial physiological states. It is unknown if, and by what molecular mechanism, the immune response can distinguish these different states on a cellular level. Also, understanding the link between pathogen proliferation and immune cell dynamics could provide critical information on how infections can be controlled, and how to counteract pathogen persistence and antibiotic resistance. However, this question has never been addressed due to difficulties in studying the dynamics of immune cells and at the same time probing pathogen proliferation., In this project, we will make use of a novel in vivo reporter system that I have developed, in order to determine the role of the pathogen's proliferation for its interaction with the immune system. Specifically, we will (1) determine the tissue niche in which the pathogen proliferates, (2) investigate the differential dynamics of phagocyte-pathogen- and of T cell-APC-interactions related to pathogen proliferation rate, (3) manipulate the relationship between pathogen proliferation and immune cell dynamics by using proliferation-deficient mutants and optogenetic pathogen inactivation, (4) identify signaling pathways that are differentially induced in cells infected by high versus low proliferating pathogens, and test their involvement in differential immune cell dynamics related to pathogen proliferation., ImmProDynamics will for the first time provide insights into how cells of the immune system react to distinct pathogen proliferative states in vivo. This will greatly expand our knowledge of host-pathogen interactions, which will be critical for the design of efficient vaccines and antimicrobial therapy., This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement No. 714233.
ERC Consolidator Grant MODEST: Mathematical Optimization for clinical DEcision Support and Training
Entwicklung mathematischer Modelle für eine personalisierte Medizin der Zukunft, Im vom Europäischen Forschungsrat (ERC) geförderten Forschungsprojekt Mathematical Optimization for Clinical Decision Support and Training (MODEST) widmen sich Prof. Dr. Sebastian Sager und sein Team aus Mathematikern und Medizinern der Universität Magdeburg der Suche nach mathematischen Lösungen, die Ärzte bei Diagnose- und Therapieentscheidungen unterstützen und eine personalisierte Medizin möglich machen. Ziel des Projektes ist es, prototypische mathematische Modelle und Algorithmen zu entwickeln, die die vielfach erhobenen und vorhandenen individuellen medizinischen Daten integrativ zusammenführen. Die Menge vorhandener Patientendaten soll so automatisch in Vorschläge für Diagnosen und Therapien übersetzt werden können. Mediziner müssen täglich unter Zeitdruck wichtige Entscheidung treffen. Kardiologen anhand eines EKGs in Minuten über mögliche Ursachen von Unstimmigkeiten befinden, Onkologen anhand von Labormarkern Dosis und Behandlungsdauer von Chemotherapien festlegen , so Prof. Sebastian Sager. Diese komplexen Entscheidungen basieren gewöhnlich auf ihrem im Laufe der Jahre angesammelten Expertenwissen, das aber eben nicht allen Patienten zur Verfügung steht und auch nicht ohne weiteres übertragbar ist. Andererseits werden in Kliniken und Arztpraxen Unmengen von Daten erhoben, die aus unserer Sicht nur unzureichend für ärztliche Entscheidungen hinzugezogen werden. Sie in ihrer ganzen Komplexität zu nutzen und gleichzeitig das Wesentliche heraus zu heben, soll durch unsere mathematischen Modelle möglich werden. Wir wollen Software entwickeln, die mit der Fülle der Daten umgehen kann und die die Entscheidungen der Mediziner faktenorientiert und nachvollziehbar unterstützt. So wie ein Flugsimulator Piloten in verschiedenen Szenarien trainiert, könnten dann auch auf individuellen Patientendaten basierende Krankheitssimulatoren sowohl in der Ausbildung eingesetzt werden, als auch im klinischen Alltag ärztliche Diagnosen sicherstellen und Therapieansätze optimieren. Krankheitsverläufe würden vorausberechnet und sichtbar gemacht werden können., Das Projekt wird gefördert durch den Europäischen Forschungsrat (ERC) im EU-Rahmenprogramm für Forschung und Innovation Horizont 2020 (Grant Agreement Nr. 647573).
ERC Proof of Concept Grant ISITFLUTTER: diagnosis app for regular aTrial arrhytmia like Flutter
Optimierung zur Diagnose von Herzrhythmusstörungen, Innerhalb des ERC Grant Projektes MODEST arbeiten wir an einer neuen Methode zur EKG Diagnose, die auf mathematischer Optimierung beruht. So ist es selbst für Experten oftmals schwierig, unregelmäßige EKGs zuverlässig zu diagnostizieren. Dieses ist aber von großer Relevanz, da unterschiedliche Behandlungsstrategien (Ablation oder medikamentös) resultieren. Der von uns patentierte Algorithmus hat dagegen in einer umfangreichen klinischen Studie Bestwerte erzielt., Er basiert auf einer inversen Fragestellung: wie gut lässt sich ein mathematisches Modell, das ein reguläres Eingangssignal (also gerade kein Vorhofflimmern), dafür aber unregelmäßige Überleitungen im sogenannten AV-Knoten abbildet, an die konkreten Messwerte aus dem EKG anpassen? Wenn dies sehr gut gelingt, dann interpretieren wir dies als eine Indikation dafür, dass kein Vorhofflimmern vorliegt. Ein großer Vorteil unseres Ansatzes ist, dass er allein auf den R-Zacken, also den gut erkennbaren großen Ausschlägen im EKG resultiert. Damit entfällt die Abhängigkeit von den oft verrauschten kleineren Zacken, unter der konkurrierende Ansätze leiden., Wir haben eine App entwickelt, die die Zeitpunkte der großen Zacken automatisch aus einem fotografierten EKG oder aber aus den Pieptönen eines Herzmonitors rekonstruiert, und aufgrund dieser Zeitreihe eine Diagnose erstellt., Ziel des Projektes isitFlutter ist es, die Marktfähigkeit dieser App zu evaluieren, die diese innovative Methode zur Entscheidungsunterstützung in die klinische Praxis bringt. Hierzu gehört die Klärung von patentrechtlichen Aspekten, die Zulassung als medizinisches Produkt, die Weiterentwicklung der Benutzeroberfläche, und eine klinische Studie. Beteiligt sind das Universitäts-Spinoff mathe.medical GmbH und die Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg., Das Projekt wird gefördert durch den Europäischen Forschungsrat (ERC) im EU-Rahmenprogramm für Forschung und Innovation Horizont 2020 (Grant Agreement Nr. 727417).