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Playground: Design for Values in Mechanical Engineering: Motor Learning and Neurorehabilitation Lab

Playground: Design for Values in Mechanical Engineering: Motor Learning and Neurorehabilitation Lab 23 January 2024 12:30 till 13:30 | Add to my calendar It takes lots of empathy, listening, thinking, sharing, and hard work from people with diverse backgrounds to develop technology that everyone can access. The Motor Learning and Neurorehabilitation Lab is a multidisciplinary team researching solutions for the neurorehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury. These innovators co-create with end-users to deliver empathetic technical solutions that ensure equity and inclusiveness. This is human-centered neurorehabilitation technology designed such that it can be tailored to the specific patient’s clinical needs, recovery goals, and capabilities. During the playground, the Lab will put forward the inclusive research approach, showing actual examples of how technology is developed by conducting ethnographic research, co-creation sessions, usability studies, and experiments with humans. We are thrilled to welcome to this playground: Dr. Ing. Laura Marchal-Crespo Salvatore Luca Cucinella Together, we will discuss what an inclusive research approach entails based on the methods used and the work being done by our speakers. Please register so we can order your free vegetarian lunch! Register Website

Stochastics Meeting Lunteren 2023

Stochastics Meeting Lunteren 2023 51th annual meeting of the Dutch probability and statistics community. 13 November 2023 10:30 till 15 November 2023 14:30 - Location: De Werelt, Westhofflaan 2, 6741 KH Lunteren | Add to my calendar Speakers Topics Programme Organizing Comittee Participation fee and lodging Registration History Marek Biskup (UCLA Los Angeles) Alexandra Carpentier (Potsdam) Alessandra Cipriani (London) Mathias Drton (Munich) Eviatar Procaccia (Technion Haifa) Aaditya Ramdas (Carnegie Mellon) Marek Biskup (UCLA Los Angeles) ( https://www.math.ucla.edu/~biskup/ ) 1. Extreme order statistics of logarithmically correlated processes, Part 1 2. Extreme order statistics of logarithmically correlated processes, Part 2 Alexandra Carpentier (Potsdam) ( https://sites.google.com/site/alexandracarpentierresearch/ ) 1. Ranking problems in crowd-sourcing, Part 1 2. Ranking problems in crowd-sourcing, Part 2 Alessandra Cipriani (London) ( https://sites.google.com/site/aciprian41/ ) 1. Random interfaces and sandpiles Part I 2. Random interfaces and sandpiles Part II Mathias Drton (Munich) ( https://www.math.cit.tum.de/math/personen/professuren/drton-mathias/ ) 1: Consistent Tests of Independence via Rank Statistics 2: Identification and Estimation of Graphical Continuous Lyapunov Models Eviatar Procaccia (Technion Haifa) ( https://sites.google.com/site/ebprocaccia/ ) 1. Vertex-removal stability and the least positive value of harmonic measures. 2. Fluctuations of Stationary Hastings Levitov are log-correlated. Aaditya Ramdas (Carnegie Mellon) ( https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~aramdas/ ) 1. Game-theoretic testing: e-values, martingales and betting 2. Game-theoretic estimation: confidence sequences Poster titles Juntong Chen: Estimating a regression function in exponential families by model selection Gabriel Clara: Dropout Regularization Versus $\ell_2$-Penalization in the Linear Model Alexander Dürre: Multivariate Lp Location Testing: Wald Tests and Lagrange Multipler Tests based on Simplices Francesco Gili: Adaptive and Efficient Isotonic Estimation in Wicksell’s Problem Yanyan Hu: Large deviation for diffusion processes with finite state-dependent fast switching on complete Riemannian manifold Aljosa Marjanovic: TBA Riccardo Michielan: Percolation phase transition on geometric intersection graphs Rounak Ray: Percolation on Preferential Attachment Model Monday 10:30-11:15 Coffee & Registration 11:15-11:30 Opening 11:30-12:30 Ramdas 12:45 Lunch 15:30-16:00 Tea 16:00-17:00 Ramdas 17:00-18:00 Biskup 18:45 Dinner Vergadering Poster Session Tuesday 08:00-09:00 Breakfast 09:00-10:00 Biskup 10:00-10:30 Coffee 10:30-11:30 Carpentier 11:30-12:30 Cipriani 12:45 Lunch 15:30-16:00 Tea 16:00-17:00 Carpentier 17:00-18:00 Drton 18:45 Dinner Wednesday 07:30-08:30 Breakfast 08:30-09:30 Cipriani 09:30-10:30 Procaccia 10:30-11:00 Coffee 11:00-12:00 Procaccia 12:00-13:00 Drton 13:15 Lunch R Kraaij (Delft) W. Th. F. den Hollander (Leiden) A. van der Vaart (Delft) A limited number of people may stay at the conference centre overnight. Rooms are assigned on a first come, first serve, basis. The following prices are valid for those who registered before October 1st: Package Price Full stay (registration fee, accomodation and all meals from Monday befor lunch to Wednesday after lunch) €510,- Two day arrangement (registration fee, one overnight stay and all meals during two days Monday and Tuesday €340,- Tuesday and Wednesday €295,- Participation in the scientific programme without overnight stay, per day Monday or Tuesday €140,- Wednesday €110,- Everyone who wishes to participate in the meeting, including those who will not stay overnight nor take meals, is requested to register before October 1st. Register here Please refer to this list to see all previous speakers. Travel De Werelt is easily reached by train. The train station is Lunteren . See the train schedule or the public transport schedule . From the train station it is a 15-20 minute walk to De Werelt. See the path on Open Street Maps or Google maps . Directions for travel by car can be found on the web site of De Werelt . The forests surrounding De Werelt show all colours in fall and offer nice hiking opportunities during the afternoon. Bring solid shoes with you, though, and watch out for the weather on the rain radar .

paris air show

Building Trust in Healthcare AI: The Vision and Initiatives of the Responsible and Ethical AI in Healthcare Lab (REAiHL) in the Netherlands

The article highlights the importance of transparency, explainability, and a protocol landscape for AI in healthcare. REAiHL proposes the establishment of a medical AI registry, analogous to clinical trials, to log and maintain AI algorithms before research or implementation.

Towards System Resilience in an Interconnected World

When it comes to social security, there is broad consensus in the Netherlands that policy and implementation should focus more on the human dimension instead of the “system’s reality”. And for good reasons. Yet, Fernando Kuipers, Martijn Neef, and Daan Rijnders argue that cybersecurity requires more systems thinking to achieve resilience and respect the human dimension.

We Need an Inclusive Approach to Flood Risks

The unequal impact of natural disasters, aggravated by a changing climate, highlights the need for comprehensive and inclusive approaches to disaster preparedness and climate action, so Mariëlle Feenstra, Laura Stancanelli, and Elisa Ragno argue.

Are Sustainability and Safety Incompatible?

In the world of biotechnology, safety and sustainability might sometimes be at odds. When conflicts arise, decision-makers must carefully weigh the trade-offs, addressing potential risks and ethical concerns in order to make informed choices. According to two TU Delft professors, safety and sustainability need to go hand in hand to ensure that biotechnological processes and products are developed and managed responsibly.

The Control Room of the Future

If it were not for the futuristic blue glow of light, you would not suspect anything special is happening in this room – just some computer screens along a wall. But nothing could be further from the truth. This is the Control Room of the Future (CRoF) technology centre, an innovation hub developed by Alex Stefanov for future power grid technologies. It allows researchers to simulate how disruptions like lightning strikes or cyber-attacks affect the Dutch power grid. Blackouts are nightmares for the energy sector, desperately seeking ways to keep the heavily loaded power system stable and secure. In the CRoF, researchers work on detecting, preventing, and mitigating cyberattacks using AI and computational intelligence techniques and building cyber-physical system resiliency. An important research pillar is privacy in smart grids, led by Zekeriya Erkin . His team is investigating how energy system management can use the data from smart meters in people’s homes without violating their privacy. The future will tell... or rather, it’s getting a little closer here. Download image spread Alex Stefanov is an Assistant Professor of Intelligent Electrical Power Grids in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. Zeki Erkin is an associate professor in the Cyber Security Group in the same faculty,

Profile of a Safety & Security Researcher: Riccardo Ferrari

Somewhat unexpectedly, Riccardo Ferrari ’s choice of a niche topic for his PhD, fault diagnosis, led to an exciting second life for his field of research. “You normally use fault diagnosis to monitor physical degradation and faults, but we extended it to deal with cyber threats. With one theory, we can now make systems like wind turbines or aeroplanes resilient to faults and secure industrial plants or autonomous vehicles against cyber attacks. Our next step? Teach an AI how devices, like electric car batteries, age. This is the kind of exciting cross-disciplinary research we want to do with colleagues at the TU Delft Safety & Security Institute.” Following a PhD in Information Engineering from the University of Trieste, Riccardo spent seven years in industrial R&D in the steelmaking sector. He specialised in instrumentation and automation solutions for process control, first as a researcher and then as executive manager. His career path is considered unusual due to the return to academics after a comfortable position in industry. How did he get there? “My first choice for further education was architecture, but I dropped the idea when my mother told me that my drawing skills were not good enough! My decision to study engineering was an element of chance. I used to spend time at my father’s car mechanic shop after school, watching him work. Maybe it sparked curiosity for engineering.” “When I went on to a Masters in Electronic Engineering at the University of Trieste, I did an industrial thesis about detecting defects inside a steel object. We figured out that if you apply tension to that object and pluck it, like when tuning a guitar string, its sound can reveal if it is faulty! So acoustics and musical intuition helped to solve the problem.” Riccardo’s interest in acoustics did not stop there. Alongside his MSc, Riccardo also juggled a BA in Classical Piano. “Yes, well, I almost got kicked out of the Conservatory. I wasn’t getting the grades because I was simultaneously working on my engineering thesis. Luckily, I pulled it off and graduated (Grade 109/110). It was hard, but I believed it wasn’t impossible. My (perhaps naive) view was that I could get a result if I put in the energy and effort. I also had the opportunity to write another thesis on acoustics! This time I added an engineering sparkle to a musical problem and built a computer model to analyse the influence of a pianist’s touch on the sound you get out of the instrument.” When the same company that supported his Master’s thesis offered Riccardo a PhD followed by an engineer position, it was an easy and logical choice. “I transitioned from academic to corporate life smoothly. But as the amount of research declined so did my interest. It was the path with the least resistance. In retrospect, I wonder whether it was the best path.” “During that period, I was still into research but had to write scientific papers during my free time. This double life became untenable when our first daughter was born, for good reasons! I reevaluated my motivations and decided to quit my comfortable job and start a research position at Delft. All based on a one-year postdoc contract. Some might call it madness. But again, I believed that effort, energy and a bit of good luck would get me there.” Riccardo Ferrari is an Associate Professor in Fault Tolerant Control at the Delft Center for Systems and Control, within the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime, and Materials Engineering (3mE) at TU Delft. Riccardo investigates how to make dynamical systems resilient against faults, malicious cyber-attacks and degradation phenomena whilst simultaneously fighting uncertainty. text Helen Hartmann illustration De Zagerij Download article

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Tracing ancient settlements in Colombia with remote sensing

A team of the LDE alliance (Leiden University, TU Delft, and Erasmus University Rotterdam) asked whether it might be possible to search for signs of ancient settlements in the jungle with affordable remote sensing techniques. For an expedition in a Colombian dense forest, the team, including remote sensing expert Felix Dahle of TU Delft, joined forces with archaeologists and drone experts from Colombia. In mountainous forests, drones provide affordable access to areas that would otherwise be unreachable from the ground. A LiDAR laser scanner already proved its value in coastal observation . The big question was whether LiDAR could bypass the many treetops. Trees reflect the laser, so it was crucial to fly close so it found its way through the foliage. The team mounted a highly portable LiDAR laser scanner to a drone and went on expedition nearby ancient terraces of the Tairona culture in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. “We had to find the sweet spot. Close to the archaeological sites and still secure above the canopy”, says Felix Dahle. And it passed the test. The LiDAR laser scanner create a point cloud and a detailed 3D model of the landscape. “We were able to detect ancient terraces in the jungle. We discovered that we can scan through the forest when it is not too dense, but some areas remained unfathomable. We could also distinguish several types of vegetation, which might be of great use too to find undiscovered archaeological sites.”

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 in XPRIZE Rainforest 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.”

How comfortable are cargo bikes actually for children?

It’s impossible to imagine the Dutch street scene without the cargo bike. It’s ideal for transporting goods and especially popular for shuttling children from A to B. Surprisingly, however, no real research has been done on the comfort of children during cargo bike rides. Mechanical engineering students Jelmer, Renate, Dirk-Jan, Santo and Alexander set out to change this. The final project for their bachelor’s degree is the first step in this unexplored area of research.

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