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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.
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Slovenian project SLOfit is the E+ SPORT #BeActive Across Generations Award Winner 2022
The SLOfit project - Lifelong monitoring of physical fitness, developed at the Faculty of Sport University Ljubljana, was selected by an expert jury in Brussels as the winner of the E+ SPORT #BeActive - Across Generations Award 2022, dedicated to recognizing the best European projects that promote a regular exercise and ensure easier access to sport and physical activity for all generations.
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University of Ljubljana participates in ground-breaking research proving the advantages of prescribing medication based on genetic code
The research findings of an international group from seven countries, headed by researchers from Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), and involving the participation of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ljubljana, show that patients experience as much as 30% fewer serious adverse side effects of medication if the choice of medicines is adapted to their genetic code. The study, which was published in medical journal The Lancet, is the first to demonstrate the advantages of prescribing medication from various therapeutic groups based on the genetic code of the individual patient.
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Preserving the inflatable Trump baby blimp
Researchers at the Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana (HSLL) of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, researchers at University College London (UCL) and conservators at the Museum of London have collaborated in interdisciplinary research in the field of heritage science, studying the stability and risk of displaying the 6-metre high and 3-metre wide polyvinyl chloride (PVC) inflatable. The results of chromatographic analysis of the material, studies of accelerated degradation of model samples and modelling diffusion and evaporation enabled the conservators to assess the environmental risks to the object during storage and exhibitions.
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Tribological Research on Surfaces and Contacts for Green Mobility
Mobility GT: The largest project at the faculty of mechanical engineering of UL so far – CoFund project of Horizon Europe was awarded the Seal of Excellence, with which Prof. Mitjan Kalin, PhD, who will coordinate a project of 24 postdoctoral research projects worth 7.6 million euros.
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SIMBA innovation in the fight against superbacteria
Innovation offers faster and cheaper solution in finding new active substances in the fight against superbacteria
The growing phenomenon of superbacteria, as we call bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, is a global health problem. The problem is exacerbated by the merging of bacteria in biofilms, which offers them protection and survival in very harsh conditions and facilitates the transmission of resistance. For this very reason the global development of new antibiotics is focused on their effects on other properties of the bacteria, such as attaching bacteria to the surface, movement or interaction between bacteria, and not just on survival. The new orientation of development urgently requires a new methodology. -
New method for structural health monitoring and failure
Lightweight structures such as wind turbines and aircraft are exposed to high dynamic loads during operation. Due to these operating conditions and their low mass, they vibrate. This is comparable to musical instruments, which produce sounds due to induced vibrations.
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