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The DIACOMET Project has Begun: Dialogue Expands Horizons
A new EU-funded project DIACOMET, involving ten European universities, media companies, non-governmental and research organizations, started with a kick-off meeting at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Lithuania.
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The thin line of sheet metal forming
The production of thin-walled components from sheet metal is an integral part of the automotive, aerospace and other industries. Forming the initial sheet metal into the desired final shape of the product requires overcoming reaction forces and thinning of the sheet metal, which can lead to fractures. Knowing the influence of many parameters of the forming process allows controlled change of the shape of the workpiece, thus achieving the target shape of the final component.
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Project »FEATURE«: Far-from-Equilibrium ATtractors at Ultra-Relativistic Energies
One of the grand challenges facing the high-energy physics community is understanding the far-from-equilibrium evolution of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). This new postdoctoral Marie Skłodowska-Curie project, carried out at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, will take the critical step to bring theoretical understanding to the level of complexity required for realistic phenomenology, by fully characterizing the properties of the QCD attractor without resorting to simplifying assumptions done in the current preliminary studies. This will be done via the inclusion of fermionic degrees of freedom and by relaxing simplifying spatial symmetries.
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Mathematical physicist Prof. Dr. Tomaž Prosen has become the first in Slovenia to receive his second prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant (ERC ADG)
The awarded ERC AdG, which is aimed at established researchers, is undoubtedly the most prestigious scientific project that an individual researcher can receive. For Prof. Dr. Tomaž Prosen, this is already his second such project, this time titled QUEST (Quantum Ergodicity: Stability and Transitions). In addition to being a top-level success on a global scale for the researcher, it is also an outstanding achievement for the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana - primarily for its exceptionally high-quality research environment that it provides for researchers and their groups.
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Treating wastewater through cavitation and understanding the effects of bubbles on bacterial cells
Increasing environmental pollution and drinking water shortages are a growing socioeconomic problem, in which cavitation technology can contribute to a cleaner and greener approach to wastewater treatment. Cavitation is a physical phenomenon that describes the phase change from liquid to vapour and back at constant temperature. The mechanical, thermal and chemical effects of cavitation can be utilised for various purposes, including to inactivate microorganisms in drinking water and wastewater. It has been proven that cells are subjected to damage in the immediate vicinity of a bubble. Further numerical analysis has identified the formation of microjets as a possible mechanism of bacterial cell damage.
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New method for predicting adult height
Researchers from Jožef Stefan Institute and Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, developed a new method for predicting adult height of children and adolescents. The method uses large population data collected in the framework of the SLOfit program over decades. It compares the growth curve of a child with those of the most similar individuals and substantially outperforms the existing height predicting methods.
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Hydrodynamic cavitation can be used to inactivate enveloped viruses
Researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, led by Prof. Dr. Matevž Dular, have shown in an experimental study that the phi6 virus, which belongs to the viruses with a lipid envelope, can be successfully inactivated using hydrodynamic cavitation. The study is significant in that it shows that hydrodynamic cavitation has the potential to inactivate pathogenic enveloped viruses in water under ambient conditions. Although the primary mode of transmission for enveloped viruses is not water, the recent pandemic has reminded us that we need to be prepared for the worst, given the possibility of the emergence of enveloped viruses or virus strains that can be transmitted through water in the future.
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A research breakthrough in the dating of historical books
Heritage scientists can now date historical paper using only infrared light and computational analysis of spectroscopic data. In the research of postdoctoral researcher Dr. Floriana Coppola and colleagues, which is published in the top scientific journal 'Journal of the American Chemical Society', shows that it is possible to date paper extremely accurately, even to 2 years. An uncertainty this low is not possible with any other method, much less with a non-destructive method.
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Using cavitation to break down invisible water pollutants
Researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the National Institute of Chemistry conducted an experimental study in which they achieved the degradation of a water-soluble synthetic polymer - poly(vinyl alcohol) PVOH - by acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation. The use of PVOH is rapidly increasing, and as a result, increasing amounts of this material are being released into the environment. PVOH is widely used in the textile and paper industries, as well as in households, for example in the form of detergent pods. It is estimated that thousands of tons of it are washed into the aquatic ecosystem every year.
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Prof. dr. Slavko Splichal has received the 2023 Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award
Academy member Slavko Splichal has received the 2023 Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award for his book Datafication of Public Opinion and the Public Sphere: How Extraction Replaced Expression of Opinion, which was published last year by Anthem Press in London and New York.
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Chronic disease risk prediction with artificial intelligence
Project SmartCHANGE - an innovative solution for drastically reducing the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases.
Although the future may seem like something we can only speculate about, the Jožef Stefan Institute, in collaboration with the SLOfit research group of the Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana, within the Horizon Europe program, is starting to develop an innovative solution that would enable better prediction and drastic reduction of the risk of developing chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs; e.g. cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, various forms of cancer) with the help of artificial intelligence. -
The innovative solutions for the use of flexibility in the power system
The increasing share of renewable distributed energy resources (DERs) in the power system is becoming a key for the decarbonization of the European energy sector and thus achieving the EU's energy and climate change policy objectives. The variability and uncertainty of the DERs generation present significant risks and challenges related to the stability and reliability of the entire interconnected European power system, as well as national and even small local networks while opening new opportunities for the development of new energy concepts and solutions.
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New method for treating the cardiac arrhythmias through electroporation
Slovenian scientists have contributed significantly to the development of treating heart arrhythmia using electroporation. This involves a procedure of ablation of the heart muscle with high-voltage electric pulses, in which researchers from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana under the leadership of Professor Damijan Miklavčič are collaborating with the American company Medtronic, one of the leading medical equipment companies in the world. The results of the clinical study were presented at the beginning of March by Dr. Atul Verma, head of clinical research at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, at the congress of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, USA.
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Biotechnical Faculty and partners free up potential European rural areas for transition to circular bioeconomy
Based at the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, a new Horizon Europe coordination and support project is underway to develop a working framework for introducing circular small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. Assoc. Prof. Dr Luka Juvančič, head of the project at the Biotechnical Faculty in the Chair for Agrarian Economics, Policy Law of the Animal Science Department, explains: “The aim of the BioRural project is to address economic, demographic and climate challenges for the most remote rural communities, through the presentation of circular technological and organisational solutions in various fields of bioeconomy (agricultural and food systems, the forest-wood chain, water systems, bioenergy, biomaterials).” He pointed out that European rural areas should not just succumb to the role of a source of raw materials for the bioeconomy, but should strengthen local value chains that will contribute to increased income and new rural employment.
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Shocking in the field of pressure metrology
Accurate measurements of time-varying pressure are important to many industrial sectors. The most stringent requirements for accurate high-frequency pressure measurements come from the automotive, aerospace and ballistics industries, where pressure with frequencies up to few hundred kHz must be accurately measured. To provide dynamic calibrations of pressure meters in the required frequency range and therefore enable accurate measurements in the most demanding industries, many national metrology institutes worldwide are developing a primary dynamic measurement standard for pressure based on the shock tube. In the shock tube, the calibrated pressure meter can be excited by an almost ideal pressure step change generated by the reflection of the shock wave from the end wall of the shock tube. Such an extremely rapid reflection of the shock wave, in addition to generating the high-frequency pressure, inevitably also excites unwanted mechanical vibrations, which can produce spurious output signals of the pressure meter being calibrated.
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Prof. Mirjam Mencej has won a prominent ERC Advanced grant project
Prof. Mirjam Mencej, PhD, from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts has won the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant for established researchers for the project "The roles of the agency of the dead in the lives of individuals in contemporary society (DEAGENCY)". The project, worth almost EUR 2 million, will run for five years, starting on 1 September 2023.
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Will the gender pay gap persist in advanced societies?
A study led by the University of California, joined by the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences (UL FDV), found that pay practices and barriers to promotion are to blame for women earning less than men in the 15 countries analysed. The findings show how new policies could address such problems.
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A controlled experiment tests the effectiveness of knowledge transfer in Slovenian agriculture for the first time
With agriculture accounting for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, and with cattle farming contributing the largest share, there is an urgent need to increase the uptake of low-emission farming practices in this sector. Education and good advisory support play an important role in promoting such changes, enabling farmers to acquire new knowledge and change their attitudes towards this issue.
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Reintroduction of the Healthy Lifestyle Intervention could radically boost the post-corona recovery of capacities in Slovenian youth
A newly published study by the SLOfit group at the Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana has shown that interventions for increasing physical activity, such as the Healthy Lifestyle Intervention in Slovenian schools, are vital for preventing childhood obesity in developed countries.
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Inductive response of phase separating battery materials
Understanding the processes in batteries is crucial for their proper design, control, management and analysis of the state of charge, health and safety. Physical sensors are a very important support for the advanced development and operation of batteries, and their combination with virtual models enables the exploitation of multiplicative effects, as mechanistically based models reveal a deeper insight into the phenomenology of the processes and enable their in-depth understanding.
