Filter results

48198 results

Adaptation pathways to prevent dry periods in De Dommel

by A.J. van Osnabrugge, supervised by O.A.C. Hoes and J.S. Timmermans With climate change the weather is changing in the Netherlands. In the last century the summers have become drier and the rain pattern has changed to shorter but more intense rainfalls, resulting in longer dry periods (KNMI, 1980, 2019). The Dutch infrastructure for waterways has been designed to direct the water as quickly as possible towards the sea because there was sufficient water available and the country would otherwise be prone to flooding (Arcgis, 2021). But due to the changing weather agriculture, nature, industry and the population of the Netherlands suffer from a shortage of water during summer times (Rijkswaterstaat). The higher parts of the Netherlands, which often consist of sandy soils and thick sandy aquifers, suffer even more resulting in water restrictions for agriculture (Rijkswaterstaat). Also at Waterboard ‘De Dommel’ They face these problems. This can be harmful for agricultural yields, but is necessary for nature and drinking water companies. During high intensity summer storms water is quickly diverted to the bigger channels, not recharging the groundwater level. A transition from diverting access water towards retaining and infiltrating this access water is therefore necessary. It is needed to insure sufficient water in future summers. This research is about the possibility to prevent water shortage during the summer months in two different areas in ‘waterschap’ (waterboard) de Dommel, Brabant. Due to climate change this has become an issue in these areas. With a groundwater model different adaptation paths will be tested. The adaptation paths will be combinations of different interventions come up by the water board and other experts. The XLRM framework will be used to define when an adaptation path is ‘working’ or not. Some future scenarios will be modelled in the groundwater model to test if the adaptation paths will also ‘work’ in more extreme or other future scenarios. In the end, the difference in the results of the groundwater behaviour, due to the adaptation paths, in both areas will be compared.

The Dutch climate is changing

by Dorus Vlierboom, supervised by Martine Rutten The Dutch climate is changing. According to the KNMI the Netherlands will become warmer and receive more rain, but less frequent. Extreme rainfall, heat stress and drought will put higher pressure on our urban systems. To adapt to our future climate we need to create a more resilient urban environment. In 2017 partners in the province of Zuid Holland started the Climate Adaptive Building Covenant, where they create the guidelines for building future neighbourhoods. However, it is still unclear how these guidelines will affect the practice and if they reach the desired effects. In Dordrecht they plan to build the new Amstelwijck quarters according to the covenant guidelines. Historically, the city has had many problems with water which led them to construct dikes and polders on south western marine clay flats. This system is used as a case study. The plans for these new neighbourhoods will first be tested with a simple water balance model. The guidelines can be investigated by assessment of different climate scenarios and interviews with involved stakeholders. “user centred design” could be applied to reach the right balance between effects and executability. The goal of this research is to find out if these plans are robust to future changes and if the guidelines are executable to builders. Also, this model could help designers build climate adaptive cities in the future. This thesis could improve the implementation of climate adaptation in the urban built environment the Netherlands and make our cities more resilient and liveable.

The Dutch climate is changing

by Dorus Vlierboom, supervised by Martine Rutten The Dutch climate is changing. According to the KNMI the Netherlands will become warmer and receive more rain, but less frequent. Extreme rainfall, heat stress and drought will put higher pressure on our urban systems. To adapt to our future climate we need to create a more resilient urban environment. In 2017 partners in the province of Zuid Holland started the Climate Adaptive Building Covenant, where they create the guidelines for building future neighbourhoods. However, it is still unclear how these guidelines will affect the practice and if they reach the desired effects. In Dordrecht they plan to build the new Amstelwijck quarters according to the covenant guidelines. Historically, the city has had many problems with water which led them to construct dikes and polders on south western marine clay flats. This system is used as a case study. The plans for these new neighbourhoods will first be tested with a simple water balance model. The guidelines can be investigated by assessment of different climate scenarios and interviews with involved stakeholders. “user centred design” could be applied to reach the right balance between effects and executability. The goal of this research is to find out if these plans are robust to future changes and if the guidelines are executable to builders. Also, this model could help designers build climate adaptive cities in the future. This thesis could improve the implementation of climate adaptation in the urban built environment the Netherlands and make our cities more resilient and liveable.

Home

Open learning materials for a multidisciplinary education programme

Open Education Week 2022 | Blogpost by Timon Idema The goal of the OLMO, or `open leermaterialen voor een multidisciplinaire opleiding’ (open learning materials for a multidisciplinary education programme) project is to develop an integrated collection of open education resources (OER) that covers the full range of the Nanobiology BSc program. The Nanobiology program is a joint-degree program (both BSc and MSc) offered by TU Delft and Erasmus University, in which students learn to apply physical principles and techniques to biological and medical problems. More than just replacing proprietary materials with open resources, in this project we aim to bridge the gap in the literature that the teachers in the program observe, as well as the existing ‘language barrier’ between biology and physics. The resources that are now used in the Nanobiology program are either unpublished resources that are personally designed by the teachers, or existing literature that is not specifically designed for the field of Nanobiology. By designing and publishing specialized literature, we can bring the different disciplines of Nanobiology together more easily. The project was set up in close collaboration between the Nanobiology program and the TU Delft library. For its realization, we worked with teachers and students from the program, looking for existing open materials that we could adopt, and preparing our own materials for open publication. We quickly discovered that content alone is not sufficient, and therefore also hired design students, who worked with the Nanobiology students and teachers to develop high-quality materials. Working with teachers and students from the very first steps of the development phase helps us create materials that resonate with everyone, and will hopefully be used for many years to come. Below, we showcase two examples of results from the project, and the perspectives of people who worked on different aspects of its realization. By designing and publishing specialized literature, we can bring the different disciplines of Nanobiology together more easily. Timon Idema Project lead / program director MSc Nanobiology Students on the multidisciplinary approach of OLMO One of the main benefits of today´s digitalized era is a wide and wide access to information from almost anywhere in the world. I was therefore very proud of my home university and study program, when I have heard of the ambitions to make Nanobiology study materials open source via the OLMO project. Striving to dedicate my future career to education and strongly believing in the idea of open access information, I have therefore joined the initiative as one of the “teacher assistants”. My main task has been to review and update materials used for the Biochemistry course. Working on them, I have thought of ways to make the lecture slides more structured, came up with ideas for new graphics that would accompany the topic explanation and served as a communication link between different participating parties - for instance between the professor and a design student, who was creating the new infographics - which has been a thrilling challenge on its own. I sincerely hope that OLMO project will inspire not only students to learn more about the field of Nanobiology, but also other programs and institutions to make their gathered knowledge available to everyone everywhere. I have thought of ways to make the lecture slides more structured, came up with ideas for new graphics that would accompany the topic explanation and served as a communication link between different participating parties Sára Bánovská Nanobiology student As a student there is a difference between the work you do for your university projects, and the work you are eventually going to do in “the real world”. The real world is this scary far away place that is only touched sporadically throughout your university journey, and because of this, in my opinion, students are faced with a daunting gap between their life as a student and their work life. What the OLMO project has done for me is bridge that gap. As a designer that is constantly surrounded by other designers it is hard to estimate how people outside of this bubble will react to your work. How do people who do not know much about graphic design formulate what they want from you? How do they explain themselves if they have never worked with software like InDesign or Illustrator? And what is the workflow like with real people who are busy? The OLMO projects has answered all these questions for me. It forces you to think about workflows, when it is best to contact a professor and how to present your designs in a format that facilitates feedback. The OLMO project for me is a bridge between a learning environment and a working environment. You not only develop your skills as a designer, but also make real content that is valuable for people years to come. It is an environment that feels very open, they value your insights as a student because they truly believe that your expertise can elevate the content. Content that you create with other students who have their own expertise for a great cause: Digital learning materials that will one day hopefully be used and created across many different universities. ... they value your insights as a student because they truly believe that your expertise can elevate the content. Felix Bas Design student Example 1: Practical for the Evolutionairy Developmental Biology course Student's perspective In 2021 I joined the OLMO project as a student assistant. The topic of Open Science has been dear to me before; I feel strongly that the world would benefit from more sharing of knowledge. Especially fields like nanobiology, born out of need for multidisciplinary researchers, should in my opinion be open for everyone to learn from. With this project I have had the chance to contribute to this vision: we started with hunting for open source materials that could replace (parts of) the materials already being used in our program (think expensive books, copyrighted pictures, etc). However, soon enough we came across a problem: especially for biology subjects, the already existing information out there was either not specific enough, or were not stylized to our liking and generally lacked a coherent designed “look”. So, we decided to produce our own open source materials, taking from the vast amount of practicals, lectures and homework sets our teachers have made over the years. For me this meant for example transcribing lectures into lecture notes. With this came also a bit of creative freedom: we decided to go for a professional look, trying to mimic a biology book, which meant I had to critically evaluate the information given in the lectures. I also had the independence to add extra in-depth content. This part of the project I liked very much: within certain boundaries, I could influence the information students will learn in the future, and try to make it as interesting as possible. We did notice it takes a lot of time to produce these materials. We have yet to see the students use our materials, but upcoming year we hope to replace a lot and we are excited to spot our hard work in the curriculum. This part of the project I liked very much: within certain boundaries, I could influence the information students will learn in the future, and try to make it as interesting as possible. Myrthe den Boestert Nanobiology student Teacher's perspective We teach Evolutionary Developmental Biology within the Nanobiology BSc and have collaborated within OLMO to transform our copyright-protected lectures, practicals and videos into open tools. In collaboration with Myrthe, a Nanobiology BSc student, we transformed a lecture about Drosophila embryonic development and an associated practical to a non-copyrighted version by using copyright-free images, moving away from the traditional book we had been using for several years. When images could not be found, they were redrawn with the help of other TU Delft students. We also made an educational video about different signal transduction pathways, again using copyright-free images. This all has been possible thanks to OLMO. It has been really interesting and fulfilling to collaborate with students to move this project forward. We were in continuous communication with them, supervising figure development, figure and text editing, even choosing the right colors! We are of course still not done and are very much looking forward to make additional copyright-free lectures, practicals and videos. Some of these include how meiosis works, a self-study about how multicellular organisms evolved from unicellular ones, how germ cells are created and what their important characteristics are, etc. Lots to talk about evolution and development! It has been really interesting and fulfilling to collaborate with students to move this project forward. Willy Baarends Teacher Evolutionary Developmental Biology Hegias Mira Bontenbal Teacher Evolutionary Developmental Biology Example 2: Assignments for the Physics 1B (electricity and magnetism) course Hodgkin-Huxley model (25p) By creating a mathematical model describing the neural action potential, Hodgkin and Huxley showed how natrium and potassium channels in the neuronal cell membrane allow signals to travel along the neurons. In 1962 they were awarded the Nobel prize for physiology and medicine for their efforts (Fee. ,2018). They modelled the cell membrane as an RC circuit to study the dynamics of the action potential over time. The cell membrane itself does not allow charged particles through, and can thus act as a capacitor. Charges can be passed/pumped over the cell membrane through potassium channel (green), calcium channel (purple) and a leakage gate (orange) ( see Figure 2A ). The channels/gate all act in parallel, can all both pump charge particles against an electrostatic potential difference and let charged particles leak back again. The charge pumping is modelled by emfs (𝑉Na, 𝑉K, 𝑉L), the leakage is modelled by a resistance (𝑅Na, 𝑅K, 𝑅L), and the membrane itself as a capacitor (𝐶m) ( see Figure 2B ) (Mondeel, 2013). Here we will assume that the resistances of the channels and gate are constant, but in reality, they are voltage and time dependent. Figure 2: A) Schematic representation of the cell membrane. B) the suiting RC circuit of the cell membrane. The resistor is taken from: " Resistor " by Studio Refine is licensed under CC BY 3.0. The battery is taken from: " Two cell battery " by Studio Refine is licensed under CC BY 3.0. What are the inward (upward) currents (𝐼N_a_,_𝐼K_,_𝐼L_) through each channel, and the total inward (upward) current through the membrane in Figure 2A and Figure 2B ? Express your answer in terms of the membrane potential 𝑉 _(defined to be positive when the potential is highest on the inside (upper)), the emfs of each channel/gate, and the resistances of each channel/gate. Fee, M. (2018). Introduction to Neural Computation (Lecture 4,5). MIT Open course ware. URL: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/9-40-introduction-to-neural- computation-spring-2018/lecture-notes/index.htm Mondeel, T. (2013). Modelling Neuronal Excitation: The Hodgkin-Huxley Model. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. URL: https://www.few.vu.nl/~rplanque/resources/Theses/Thesis-HogdkinHuxley-Thierry-Mondeel.pdf Student's perspective A university is a place where different generations come together to share knowledge. As a student I have always found this to be an inspiring concept. When I heard about the OLMO project I immediately felt a connection with the idea behind the project: making the content of the nanobiology program available for all students worldwide. To make this work, different parties must be involved, also student assistants who understand the content of the course and know how to alter the content to make it publication ready. Together with professor Martin Depken, I have worked on the course physics 1B that covers electromagnetism. Since there is a lot of content already available on this topic the challenge was to select pre-existing content, integrate it in the written lecture notes by Martin and apply this to biology. After searching through different materials, and reading a lot on the internet, the final collection of Physics 1B consist out of the following components: - Short knowledge clips made from open-source MIT lectures - Lecture notes with different biological applications - 4 Problem sets with an integrated nanobiology focused application. Personally, I really liked to make the problem sets and the lecture notes together with Martin to develop a collection of electromagnetism related material focussed on nanobiology. Hopefully our collection will be useful for other students, and will this project be the start of sharing our knowledge on a larger scale. ... making the content of the nanobiology program available for all students worldwide. Julia Wenink Nanobiology student Teacher's perspective It is important for our Nanobiology students to see the very direct connection that exists between basic physics and biology. To date, most undergraduate physics has been explained using classical physics scenarios. By taking part in the OLMO project we have started to change this, and now have some wonderful examples and questions building showing the deep connection between physics and biology already in a first year course. By taking part in the OLMO project we have started to change this, and now have some wonderful examples and questions building showing the deep connection between physics and biology already in a first year course. Martin Depken Teacher Physics 1B course Library's perspective Libraries have come a long way from managing collections of physical books. Not only have we moved from paper to digital materials, we are also moving towards open science and open education. As the coordinator for open education of the TU Delft Library, I come across a lot of people with amazing ideas for creating and publishing their teaching materials. However, not often do I come across a project as ambitious as OLMO. The goal of the OLMO project is to create and adopt open educational resources as the basis for the courses that are taught in the Nanobiology bachelor program. Doing this requires investment of time from teachers, but also a working support infrastructure. In formulating the project proposal, Timon and I worked closely together so that we could determine how the TU Delft Library could assist with support on finding and publishing open educational resources. The most important thing we agreed on: teachers have very limited time, so they should be able to do what they do best. They excel in organizing courses and designing and using teaching materials. The library can help find useful existing materials, make materials fit for publication as an open resource, and facilitate publishing these resources. Within the OLMO project we designed a workflow where the library trains students on making teaching materials fit for publication. Students learn how to find useful materials, but also how to design materials that can be publish as an open resource, without breaking copyright rules. Teachers in turn judge the results, to make sure it fits their course. The OLMO project is showing that creating quality open educational resources is an endeavour that works very efficiently if you have ambitious students willing to do the work, teachers that are motivated to improve their materials, and a support infrastructure with the library. We have already dubbed this way of working with students the ‘OLMO approach’. We believe that this could jumpstart the transition of digital learning materials to open alternatives across the university and beyond. Teachers have very limited time, so they should be able to do what they do best. Michiel de Jong Coordinator open education, TU Delft Library Open menu Open Education Week March 2022 Open Education Week March 2022 Creating an Open Textbook on Linear Algebra Open learning materials for a multidisciplinary education programme The art of re-using: TU Delft Open Educational Resources (OER) policy

Creating an Open Textbook on Linear Algebra

Open Education Week 2022 | Blogpost by Martijn Ouwehand & Loes van Hove In 2021, the interfaculty teaching staff for Mathematics education started a project to write and publish a new textbook on Linear Algebra, to be used everywhere on campus. Early on they decided that the most effective way to do this would be to publish it as an open textbook, so it becomes easy to access, to work on, to reuse by others and to become available all over the world. Today, they want to share their journey so far. Creating an interactive, open book on linear algebra, why would one do that? To answer this question, let’s sketch the situation of a typical engineering student at TU Delft: This student follows at least one course in linear algebra in their first year, first semester. Linear algebra is not their main topic, but it is necessary to understand and solve the engineering problems in their field. For that is what engineering students – amongst other things – do: translate problems to mathematical models, to solve and later translate them back to the original situation, processing and interpreting the results. This student buys a big book - or does not buy the big book because they heard it will not be used integrally. Moreover, books are expensive - attends lectures and reads announcements on Brightspace, where they can also find interactive exercises using Grasple, pre-lecture videos and applets to practice. That is a lot of different sources, platforms, and pop-up windows. This situation does not necessarily need to be a problem. But wouldn’t it be better if students could find all this material in one place, where theory, exercises and additional information seamlessly connect? If we want to answer our initial question, we should also ask our teaching staff . For them, it is a constant challenge to find the right theory, exercises and applets and align them to offer students a learning experience that applies to their context. New versions of books are published regularly, resulting in additional workload to adjust the instruction. And then there are students who come to class without having the book, because it is too expensive. What if we could make an open book including all the possibilities that exist nowadays (interactive exercises, videos, applets)? An open book allows lecturers to adjust the content themselves, to update the book according to current developments, their student’s needs and experiences. Making education more accessible, flexible, and inclusive, not only for our students at TU Delft, but also far beyond. That is why in 2021 our interfaculty mathematics education team started an adventure. An adventure to develop an interactive, open textbook on linear algebra for engineers. It has already proven to be challenging to produce such an ambitious and potentially impactful work with so many people involved. For Open Education Week, we want to share our challenges, because we want others across campus to be able to learn from our process. Challenges Of course, our main job is to teach students. We know how to explain linear algebra. But we are not a publisher. This led to several challenges in the process: With a team of 11 math lecturers offering courses at different faculties across the university, finding a way to work together is not the easiest thing to do. We had to figure out our process of writing a book. Where to start? How to protect the quality of what we write? How to create one style throughout the book when several people write different parts of the book? We had to decide what content we would cover and how to explain the different topics. What do we include or exclude, how to prioritise? We had to agree on standards, such as mathematical notation. We had to decide if we would offer a printed version of the book (answer: yes) We had to find and choose a platform to write and publish the book with. Last but not least, we had to find a way to balance all our efforts for the book with our teaching duties. This everlasting challenge of finding time on top of teaching obligations is not easy, even more in current times where developments in society press so much on the resilience and flexibility of teaching staff and students in general. Thankfully, our team was and still is very motivated to offer a better, more flexible, and cheaper solution to the commercial books and other sources now used. We are happy to receive support from the TU Delft Library Open Publishing service and experts from other universities sharing their experiences for us to learn from. Currently we are working towards a first pilot with a selection of the book in Q1 of the academic year 2022/2023. We aim to deliver the first full edition in 2023. For more information about the project , contact the Project Lead Loes van Hove , Education Coordinator DIAM. Open menu Open Education Week March 2022 Open Education Week March 2022 Creating an Open Textbook on Linear Algebra Open learning materials for a multidisciplinary education programme The art of re-using: TU Delft Open Educational Resources (OER) policy

The art of re-using: TU Delft Open Educational Resources (OER) policy

Open Education Week 2022 | Blogpost by Nicole Will & Alessandra Candian We are proud to share with you the TU Delft Open Educational Resources (OER) policy . With this policy, TU Delft not only encourages but also supports staff and students to use, create and publish OER. Here the aim is to enhance the quality of teachers’ and students’ experience, provided that resources used are fit-for-purpose and relevant. At some point in your reading or while using the OER policy you may notice that TU Delft recommends to publish OER with a CC-BY (Attribution only) Creative Commons license while the policy itself has a CC-BY-NC-SA (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike) license. Why does a policy document come with a more restrictive license than what is recommended for the objects – the OER – of the policy itself? The TU Delft OER policy wants to emphasize and stimulate the adoption and adaptation of existing materials, in line with the Open Science spirit. What better way of illustrating the principle than implementing it in the policy-making process itself? We searched for existing policies that had a vision close to our own. The OER policies of the University of Leeds and of the Glasgow Caledonian University were close enough but did not cover all our goals. Why reinventing the wheel? We built upon those existing policies by combining them and complementing them with new topics and articles specific for our university and the Netherlands. By following this path we commit to the existing licensing model present in the policies, which is CC-BY-NC-SA. This less permissive license will certainly restrain somehow the reuse of our policy. But at the same time this story shows how important it is to choose carefully a Creative Commons license for your resource, thinking about the future use and reuse opportunities. And that’s why TU Delft recommends for its OER, when possible, one of the most open licenses, the CC-BY. Open menu Open Education Week March 2022 Open Education Week March 2022 Creating an Open Textbook on Linear Algebra Open learning materials for a multidisciplinary education programme The art of re-using: TU Delft Open Educational Resources (OER) policy

Resilience for All

TU Delft Resilience Lab members Dr. Nazli Aydin, and Supriya Krishnan will organize a transdisciplinary workshop titled 'Resilience for All' at the UN-Habitat's World Urban Forum (WUF) to be held in Poland between 26 - 30 June.

Estimating the safety factor of monsoon-affected urban drainage systems using fault tree analysis

By Florida Visser, supervised by Martine Rutten Many cities in South-East Asia increasingly face flooding problems that frequently inundate large parts of the city. The main cause is twofold: these cities are often affected by monsoons, and rapid urbanization quickly alters the runoff generation. Drainage systems can often not keep up with the changes and start to fail. There are many different failure mechanisms that cause failure in different parts the system. These mechanisms are often known to local experts and maintenance workers and are treated one by one. The mutual relationships of the causes of failure are easily overlooked in this way. For this research, the capitol of Vietnam, Hanoi, is taken as a case study. This city has grown from 1.7 to 7 million inhabitants in the last 2 decades. During the monsoon season, heavy rains occur and can inundate certain locations multiple times per year. This research aims to provide a more formal approach to the conditionality of the failure mechanisms: in what way do failure mechanisms relate to each other? This is done by means of fault tree analysis (FTA). This method connects the different mechanisms using the failure probability of each specific failure mechanism and connects them using Boolean logic. The methodology is carried out in two main steps. First, the fault tree is drawn using the input of local experts. Interviews and a focus group are held with inhabitants of Hanoi that come from different disciplines, such that their experience is represented in a formal way. Second, a normative neighborhood of Hanoi is modelled using PCSWMM software. This software combines the tools of the well-known drainage modelling software SWMM and e.g. QGIS. Additionally, the software enables the user to execute the scripting tool. This allows me to perform Monte Carlo simulations, such that the relevant uncertainties can be estimated. In this way, the sensitivity to certain failure mechanisms is explored, and the failure probability of these mechanisms can be predicted using characteristic values and ranges. The formal approach of FTA provides a clear and quick overview of the vulnerable parts of the system, and their relative contributions to the inundation problems. The result of this study can be used for local drainage authorities, such that they can make more targeted improvements.

Half Height Horizontal

What trees teach us about sustainable production of materials

Trees are excellent teachers when it comes to making materials for load-bearing structures with as little resources and energy as possible. One of their secrets? When a tree grows, the direction of the wood grain adapts itself to fit the load that part of the tree is going to bear.

Exhale Sluitingsweek: A week of free events to say goodbye to Exhale and cosy up for Winter

De allerlaatste Exhale Week vindt plaats van 25 november tot 1 december en staat volledig in het teken van afscheid nemen van Exhale en het omarmen van de winter.

TIL student Laura Drechsel wins Q-Park thesis award

TIL student Laura Drechsel wins the 2024 Q-Park Student Award with her thesis called: Stories of Aging and Access - Exploring capabilities and challenges of accessibility for urban elderly through microstories. Her award-winning thesis can be found here .

TU Delft jointly wins XPRIZE Rainforest drone competition in Brazil

TU Delft jointly wins in the XPRIZE Rainforest competition in the Amazon, Brazil Imagine using rapid and autonomous robot technology for research into the green and humid lungs of our planet; our global rainforests. Drones that autonomously deploy eDNA samplers and canopy rafts uncover the rich biodiversity of these complex ecosystems while revealing the effects of human activity on nature and climate change. On November 15, 2024, after five years of intensive research and competition, the ETHBiodivX team, which included TU Delft Aerospace researchers Salua Hamaza and Georg Strunck, achieved an outstanding milestone: winning the XPRIZE Rainforest Bonus Prize for outstanding effort in co-developing inclusive technology for nature conservation. The goal: create automated technology and methods to gain near real-time insights about biodiversity – providing necessary data that can inform conservation action and policy, support sustainable bioeconomies, and empower Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are the primary protectors and knowledge holders of the planet’s tropical rainforests. The ETHBiodivX team, made of experts in Robotics, eDNA, and Data Insights, is tackling the massive challenge of automating and streamlining the way we monitor ecosystems. Leading the Robotics division, a collaboration between TU Delft’s Prof. Salua Hamaza, ETH Zurich’s Prof. Stefano Mintchev and Aarhus University’s Profs. Claus Melvad and Toke Thomas Høye, is developing cutting-edge robotic solutions to gather ecology and biology data autonomously. “We faced the immense challenge of deploying robots in the wild -- and not just any outdoor environment but one of the most demanding and uncharted: the wet rainforests. This required extraordinary efforts to ensure robustness and reliability, pushing the boundaries of what the hardware could achieve for autonomous data collection of images, sounds, and eDNA, in the Amazon” says prof. Hamaza. “Ultimately, this technology will be available to Indigenous communities as a tool to better understand the forest's ongoing changes in biodiversity, which provide essential resources as food and shelter to the locals.” . . . .

Moving the Closet

You simply cannot miss it, it is big and magenta: the Pink Closet . On 12 November 2024 the Pink Closet will head to the Main Hall of the TU Delft Library for the first time! The Pink Closet will take its place at the Nook, where it will feature as part of the Studium Generale programme on loneliness. More information on events that coincide with and incorporate the Pink Closet at TU Delft Library will soon be available on the website of Studium Generale .

Green ammonia remains a challenge, but researchers make significant progress

The production of ammonia, essential for fertiliser production, is responsible for almost 1.5% of global carbon emissions. This needs to be greener, which is why researchers have been looking for sustainable alternatives for years.

"Measuring brain activity through the skull with ultrasound opens new doors"

PhD Candidate Rick Waasdorp is looking for ways to correct the distortion caused by the skull when using Ultrasound technology. ‘’My goal is to develop an adaptive method for skull corrections that automatically measures the skull of new patients.’’

NWO funding for flexible power demand in electrically driven industry

NWO is funding two projects to explore ways to make the power demand of industry more flexible, allowing it to better align with future energy supplies. One of these projects, “DEFLAME,” is led by Machteld van den Broek from TU Delft.

Students Amos Yusuf, Mick Dam & Bas Brouwer winners of Mekel Prize 2024

Master students Amos Yusuf, from the ME faculty (Mick Dam, from the EEMCS faculty and graduate Bas Brouwer have won the Mekel Prize 2024 for the best extra scientific activity at TU Delft: the development of an initiative that brings master students into the classroom teaching sciences to the younger generations. The prize was ceremonially awarded by prof Tim van den Hagen on 13 November after the Van Hasselt Lecture at the Prinsenhof, Delft. They received a statue of Professor Jan Mekel and 1.500,- to spend on their project. Insights into climate change are being openly doubted. Funding for important educational efforts and research are being withdrawn. Short clips – so called “reels” – on Youtube and TikTok threaten to simplify complex political and social problems. AI fakes befuddle what is true and what is not. The voices of science that contribute to those discussion with modesty, careful argument and scepticism, are drowned in noise. This poses a threat for universities like TU Delft, who strive to increase student numbers, who benefit from diverse student populations and aim to pass on their knowledge and scientific virtues to the next generation. It is, therefore, alarming that student enrolments to Bachelor and Master Programs at TU Delft have declined in the past year. Students in front of the class The project is aimed to make the sciences more appealing to the next generation. They have identified the problem that students tend miss out on the opportunity of entering a higher education trajectory in the Beta sciences – because they have a wrong picture of such education. In their mind, they depict it as boring and dry. In his pilot lecture at the Stanislas VMBO in Delft, Amos Yusuf has successfully challenged this image. He shared his enthusiasm for the field of robotics and presented himself as a positive role model to the pupils. And in return the excitement of the high school students is palpable in the videos and pictures from the day. The spark of science fills their eyes. Bas Brouwer Mick Dam are the founders of NUVO – the platform that facilitates the engagement of Master Students in high school education in Delft Their efforts offer TU Delft Master Students a valuable learning moment: By sharing insights from their fields with pupils at high school in an educational setting, our students can find identify their own misunderstandings of their subject, learn to speak in front of non-scientific audiences and peak into education as a work field they themselves might not have considered. An extraordinary commitment According to the Mekel jury, the project scored well on all the criteria (risk mitigation, inclusiveness, transparency and societal relevance). However, it was the extraordinary commitment of Amos who was fully immersed during his Master Project and the efforts of Brouwer and Dam that brought together teaching and research which is integral to academic culture that made the project stand out. About the Mekel Prize The Mekel Prize will be awarded to the most socially responsible research project or extra-scientific activity (e.g. founding of an NGO or organization, an initiative or realization of an event or other impactful project) by an employee or group of employees of TU Delft – projects that showcase in an outstanding fashion that they have been committed from the beginning to relevant moral and societal values and have been aware of and tried to mitigate as much as possible in innovative ways the risks involved in their research. The award recognizes such efforts and wants to encourage the responsible development of science and technology at TU Delft in the future. For furthermore information About the project: https://www.de-nuvo.nl/video-robotica-pilot/ About the Mekel Prize: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/tpm/our-faculty/departments/values-technology-and-innovation/sections/ethics-philosophy-of-technology/mekel-prize

The ENHANCE Diversity Seed Fund

Are you a student at TU Delft or another ENHANCE university with a passion for promoting diversity and inclusion? The ENHANCE Diversity Seed Fund is your chance to turn that passion into action. ENHANCE provides funding to support innovative, student-led projects that address key challenges related to inclusion and diversity within our academic communities. Key Details: Funding Available: Up to 1500 Euros per project in the 1st round! Eligibility: Students from ENHANCE member universities. Staff can also join student-led initiatives. Application Deadline: 8 January 2025. More information: Join the online Information Event on the 26 November 2024 16:00-17:00 CET on Zoom . More information: enhanceuniversity.eu/diversity/diversityseedfund/

New catheter technology promises safer and more efficient treatment of blood vessels

Each year, more than 200 million catheters are used worldwide to treat vascular diseases, including heart disease and artery stenosis. When navigating into blood vessels, friction between the catheter and the vessel wall can cause major complications. With a new innovative catheter technology, Mostafa Atalla and colleagues can change the friction from having grip to completely slippery with the flick of a switch. Their design improves the safety and efficiency of endovascular procedures. The findings have been published in IEEE. Catheter with variable friction The prototype of the new catheter features advanced friction control modules to precisely control the friction between the catheter and the vessel wall. The friction is modulated via ultrasonic vibrations, which overpressure the thin fluid layer. This innovative variable friction technology makes it possible to switch between low friction for smooth navigation through the vessel and high friction for optimal stability during the procedure. In a proof-of-concept, Atalla and his team show that the prototype significantly reduces friction, averaging 60% on rigid surfaces and 11% on soft surfaces. Experiments on animal aortic tissue confirm the promising results of this technology and its potential for medical applications. Fully assembled catheters The researchers tested the prototype during friction experiments on different tissue types. They are also investigating how the technology can be applied to other procedures, such as bowel interventions. More information Publicatie DOI : 10.1109/TMRB.2024.3464672 Toward Variable-Friction Catheters Using Ultrasonic Lubrication | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore Mostafa Atalla: m.a.a.atalla@tudelft.nl Aimee Sakes: a.sakes@tudelft.nl Michaël Wiertlewski: m.wiertlewski@tudelft.nl Would you like to know more and/or attend a demonstration of the prototype please contact me: Fien Bosman, press officer Health TU Delft: f.j.bosman@tudelft.nl/ 0624953733

Design and imagination as essential tools during the climate crisis

In Nature Partner Journals, ten researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanising river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable to climate change. "We scientists should not merely outline doomsday scenarios," says Professor Chris Zevenbergen. "Create a vision for people to believe in and work towards.”

Inaugural address: machine optimisation key to more efficient logistics system

The processing and transport of materials can be made much more efficient, says TU Delft professor Dingena Schott in her inaugural address, ‘Advancing Transport and Processing: from Model to Impact’. She will deliver her address on 15 November. Her research focuses on the interaction between machines and materials, with a special emphasis on granular materials.

FAST University Fund invites all TU Delft students

FAST University Fund invites all TU Delft students to apply for the Ambitious Project Grant or the Event Grant of up to €15.000!

Education demonstration in Utrecht cancelled

Safety cannot be guaranteed In our post of 22 October , we announced that students and staff of TU Delft will have the opportunity to take part in protests against the cabinet's plans to cut higher education. Today it has been announced that the demonstration against the cuts to higher education and science on 14 November in Utrecht has been cancelled because the safety of the demonstrators cannot be guaranteed. Read the reaction of Universiteiten van Nederland to the cancellation of the education demonstration in Utrecht (Dutch only).

Young Investigator Award for Gabrielle Laloy-Borgna

Gabrielle has won the technical Young Investigator Award at Euroson 2024 (congress of the European Federation of Ultrasound Societies in Medicine and Biology) with her presentation entitled: “Ultrasound imaging in bones: tissue characterization, anatomical images
and blood flow measurements”.

Ilaria Orsi joined ImPhys as PhD student

Ilaria started her PhD program in the Renaud group about ultrasound imaging inside bones, contributing to the advancement of such non-invasive technique to characterize tissue composition and to quantify blood flow.

First prize for ZhenZhen Wu at the 2024 NWO Biophysics poster awards

ZhenZhen Wu's poster, “Absolute Voltage Imaging in Developing Zebrafish,” won first prize in the 2024 NWO Biophysics poster awards, competing against over 150 posters. The BioPM Poster Prizes are awarded to the best posters presented at the NWO Biophysics Conference, and the winners are selected by a jury. ZhenZhen Wu z.wu-3@tudelft.nl

Enrolment for new courses open on 13 November

The new courses will start from Monday 18 November. Enrolment for these starts from Wednesday 13 November at 08.00! In the second quarter, a new series of courses awaits you. You can find out more on the website. Maybe you already know that you want to attend your favourite course again or maybe you want to discover and try something new; it's all possible. The enrolment moment for the course depends on the day the course takes place. At 08:00 enrolments for Monday's courses open, at 10:00 for Tuesday's courses, at 12:00 for Wednesday's courses, at 14:00 for Thursday's courses and at 16:00 for courses on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Enrolments go fast Enrolment for our courses always runs fast, so don't wait too long or be surprised by a course where spots are still available! Enrolment closes Enrolment closes on Friday 22 November at 16.00.

Contributions of SPTL at the CVS Congress (21-22 November, Utrecht)

On November 21 and 22, the 51st edition of the CVS congress is held in the Railway museum in Utrecht. Members of the Smart Public Transport Lab contribute to the following sessions: Knus in de bus op dinsdag; zijn alle werkdagen nog wel hetzelfde? Thursday, November 21, 16:00-17:30 Julia Bickel, Maxim Meijers and Niels van Oort [abstract] Stedelijkheidsgraden in transportmodellen: Een analyse over de impact van de ruimtelijke omgeving op reisgedrag Thursday, November 21, 16:00-17:30 Janine Grauss, Justin Hogenberg and Niels van Oort [abstract] Van en naar het treinstation: Voorkeuren van reizigers voor gedeelde elektrische micromobiliteit Friday, November 22, 11:30-13:00 Nejc Geržinič, Mark van Hagen, Dorine Duives and Niels van Oort [ abstract ] Gamen maakt de toekomst – Serious gamen voor een optimale mobiliteitsmix Friday, November 22, 11:30-13:00 Tessa Leferink, Niels van Oort and Sander Lenferink [abstract] De verkenning van de potentie van fietsparkeren bij het ov: een casus in Den Haag Madeline Lai, Dorine Duives, Stefan Talen, Nejc Geržinič and Niels van Oort Friday, November 22, 14:00-15:30 [abstract]