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Supporting heart patients with sensors and data

The idea of setting up a research program with Philips Design and the Hartstichting (Dutch Heart Foundation) to improve efficiency in care and prevention for patients with cardiovascular disease began just over two years ago. Last summer the ‘CardioLab’ was launched. Maaike Kleinsmann is director and lead researcher at the lab. Her goals with Cardiolab are ambitious.

A Taste of the Food & Eating Design Lab

How our society deals with food is of crucial importance. Many societal challenges can be traced back to our relationship with food and eating. “From agricultural production and food waste to growing obesity and diabetes problems. Even mental health can be related to food.” Rick Schifferstein is director of the Food & Eating Design Lab at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Here, researchers, students and companies aim to improve people’s interaction with their daily food and provide solutions that promote people’s health and wellbeing.

What can mussel shells teach us about the circular economy?

In a circular economy, design is about more than just creating a sustainable product. In this system based on eliminating waste and minimising the use of resources, the design process is aimed at preserving the value of products and materials and keeping them in the economic system for as long as possible. So how do you do that? PhD candidate Marita Sauerwein came up with a novel material based on ground mussel shells and showed through 3D printing technology that the end life of a product is really just the beginning.

Sustainable design is not just about the material stuff

Sure, sustainable design can result in a trendy reusable bottle. But it’s not just about the product, it’s also about the process. Through his PhD research, Brian Baldassarre set out to understand how design expertise can be applied by business organisations in the transition towards sustainable development.

Ice sheet and glacier change

Ongoing projects The NWO-funded VIDI project “Disentangling ice loss of mountain glaciers and ice caps” combines observations from gravimetry, topography changes from altimetry and changes in the flow speed of the glaciers with model data to obtain a clear picture of the current mass loss of glaciers and ice caps worldwide and the driving forces behind it. The research group EarthMapps is busy with two projects funded by NWO that combine remote sensing with snow modelling to investigate the SMB of Greenland (“Remote sensing of snow properties”) and Antarctica (“ Mass2Ant ”). Within the projects “ CoupledIceClim ” (ERC) and “ Future Coupled Evolution of Greenland ice sheet and climate ” (NWO), we investigate the last, ongoing and future deglaciations with an ice sheet model ( CISM ) coupled to an earth system model ( CESM ). More information about research on Ice sheet and glacier change

800,000 scientific publications open access available via NARCIS

In collaboration with universities and other research institutions, more than 800,000 scientific publications are now open access via NARCIS, the Dutch national platform for scientific information. The repository team at TU Delft Library ensured that the limit of 800,000 open access publications was recently exceeded. More than 52,000 TU Delft publications can be found via NARCIS, almost all of which are open access. Mieke Heukels, member of the repository team on behalf of the entire team: "Working from home does not have to be an obstacle to break boundaries together". Among these over 800,000 open access publications are 332,000 journal articles and over 87,000 dissertations. The publications come from all Dutch universities, HBO-Kennisbank (publications by lectors from 26 universities of applied sciences), KNAW, NWO and other scientific institutions such as RCE-Archeological Reports, TNO, RIVM, NIVEL, Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Verkeersveiligheid (SWOV), a total of 38 repositories. By 2020, more than 14,000 open access publications will have been published, most of them articles. Read also: More and more TU Delft researchers opt for open access publishing NARCIS.nl has been offline since Monday July 3rd, 2023. The new OpenAIRE platform with publications and data from Dutch universities and research institutions is Netherlands Research Portal .

Publish open access at TTP free of charge

TU Delft Library has concluded an (open access) agreement with Trans Tech Publications (TTP). This Swiss based publisher is particular important for the ME faculty as it covers journals in the domain of Engineering Research en Materials Science. This is an innovative open access agreement that enables TU Delft authors to publish open access at TTP free of charge. According to the agreement, corresponding authors of the TU can publish in all journals of the entire TTP-portfolio . The agreement runs from June 2021 to December 31, 2024. TU Delft scientists, lecturers and students also have access to all content in Scientific.Net, digital Library of TTP. This deal is part of the ‘transformative deals’ of TU Delft, which are constantly being expanded according to the Open Science program. TU Delft currently has 26 publishing agreements with an open access component . The TTP agreement is a joint effort of the Collection Management and Research Support teams.

Andy Zaidman new chair of Software Technology

Starting January 1st, Andy Zaidman will assume the role of chair of the Software Technology (ST) department at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science (EEMCS) of TU Delft. Zaidman succeeds Arie van Deursen, who has successfully worked on the positioning and growth of the department over the past eight years.

Finalised PhD Projects

Here follows a list of recently completed PhD Theses from the group Concrete Structures. 2021 Roosen, M.A. Shear failure of prestressed girders in regions without flexural cracks 2017 Lottman, B.B.G. The spalling mechanism of fire exposed concrete 2016 Blagojević, A. The Influence of Cracks on the Durability and Service Life of Reinforced Concrete Structures in relation to Chloride-Induced Corrosion - A Look from a Different Perspective 2014 Yang, Y. Shear Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Members without Shear Reinforcement: A New Look at an Old Problem Amir, S. Compressive Membrane Action in Prestressed Concrete Deck Slabs Sarkhosh, R. Shear Resistance of Reinforced Concrete Beams without Shear Reinforcement under Sustained Loading 2013 Lantsoght, E.O.L. Shear In Reinforced Concrete Slabs under Concentrated Loads close to Supports 2011 Fennis, S.A.A.M. Design of ecological concrete by particle packing optimization 2010 De Boer, A. Design strategy structural concrete in 3D focusing on uniform force results and sequential analysis

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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.”

PRELIFE consortium receives NWA funding to investigate the origin of life

The interdisciplinary research consortium PRELIFE has been awarded an NWA grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to investigate the origin of life on Earth and in the universe, one of science’s greatest unsolved puzzles. The consortium will receive €6.7 million to explore this question and comprises scientists from sixteen universities and research institutes across the Netherlands.

Kwartetspel maakt seksisme bij politie bespreekbaar

IO alumnus Noortje Kwakernaak bezocht twee politiekantoren om er de rol van vrouwelijke agenten te onderzoeken. Ze merkte dat er wel eens sprake was van grove en seksistische humor. Om spelers over deze grappen te laten reflecteren, en misschien gedrag te veranderen, ontwikkelde ze een kwartetspel.

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”.