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Month: August 2021

TPU organized the Future of Smart Cities Conference

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Tomsk Polytechnic University held the International Scientific Conference “Future of Human Smart Cities in Europe and Central Asia: Challenges and Opportunities” from 8 June 2021.

“I am greeting you within the walls of Tomsk Polytechnic University, the first technical university of the Urals. For 125 years, we have been training over 170,000 engineers. Most of them are engineers, the task of whom is to change the world around them, start new enterprises, make breakthrough decisions, as well as to change the image of the urban environment,” Alexander Fadeev, TPU Vice-Rector for Digital Affairs, addressed the participants of the Conference.

“The unique character of TPU lies in engineering and technical sciences, humanities and social sciences, which are closely intertwined.”

“The most interesting is that our university manages to intertwine deep fundamental science and engineering. Who is a man of science? A man of science is that who studies laws of nature.

“Who is an engineer then? An engineer is that who creates something new that has never existed in the world before. I want to wish everyone to find something personal, something unique at the Conference that will help you to create your service. Above all, working in digital space, don’t forget about a human,” he added.

Among the topics discussed by the experts at the Conference were “Information Technologies Serving Stakeholders and Citizens of Smart City: Urban Digital Platforms, GIS Maps, Electronic Services and Government”, “Impact of Breakthrough Technologies on Society, Assessment of Equipment and Technology, Social Aspects of Robotics”, “Reinterpretation of Smart Human-Centered Transformation of City: Global, National, Local Contexts”.

“Such a topic as smart cities and considerations of the future of smart cities were simply impossible 10 years ago. The fact is that digital technologies became a part of our world. Many people are afraid of it, however, this process is cocksure. Look how everything around us is changing, including everything that refers to the urban environment. For instance, how people call a taxi, buy products today, they do it using digital technologies,” Alexander said.

“Digital technologies are unique due to collecting large volumes of data that allows taking fantastic solutions. For example, digital technologies forecast and suggest to us those goods, which you have not seen before. Today, the forecasting system is increasing sales by three folds on many websites. Think how we can dip into the future, which solutions we can offer, spread your wings when you design the future of our cities,” Alexander added.

The Conference was held in a hybrid mode and gathered together students, young and recognized scientists, urban planners, engineers, architects, Tomsk citizens, representatives of IT companies, cafes, museums, creative spaces and children’s technopark “Kvantorium”, sociologists from Tomsk, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Perm, Tambov, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Italy, Guatemala, Portugal, Switzerland and Central Asian countries.

“The main point in the section work is focused on that the technologies must be aimed at people, a smart city must serve people. There must not be technologies for technologies, but technologies must be an instrument helping to increase the quality of citizens’ life,” Natalya Goncharova, Associate Professor of the Division for Social Sciences and Humanities of the TPU School of Core Engineering Education, a coordinator of the project, emphasized.

The participants discussed problems and perspectives of modern approaches on research the process of formation of public spaces of urban streets, use of instruments of video content analysis, use of robots in education and a smart city, the impact of digital technologies on elderly people and many others.

A unique surgery by surgical oncologists and endoscopists at the Pirogov Clinic of SPbU

Posted on by Alina Perevizintsova

For the first time, surgical oncologists and endoscopists at the Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies at St Petersburg University (SPbU) have performed surgery to remove a malignant tumour of the oesophagus and conduct a biopsy of the lymph node.

This approach enabled doctors to perform radical surgery of the tumour endoscopically, without needing to perform surgical intervention. The procedure was similar to the well-known and common fibrogastroduodenoscopy (FGDS) and was performed under general anaesthesia.

“The doctors also had to perform additional diagnostics in order to find whether cancer cells break away from where they first formed and to prevent future relapses. For that reason, we performed a sentinel lymph node biopsy,” said Rostislav Pavlov, an oncologist and Deputy Director for Medicine (Oncology) at the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic.

The doctors at the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic examined the sentinel lymph node. The sentinel lymph node is the organ that can evidence first that cancer cells from the tumour have begun to travel through the body. Medical technologies we have today enable us to find easily this lymph node.

During the endoscopic stage of the surgery, the doctors injected a fluorescent substance into the tumour. Through the lymphatic vessels, it entered the nearest lymph nodes creating a green glow. This highlighted signalling node had to be removed and checked for cancer cells.

Laparoscopy was used to take biopsy samples. It is a minimally invasive approach to modern surgery on internal organs through small openings, avoiding large incisions and noticeable sutures. This results in reducing to a minimum what has to be done during the surgery and lessens patient’s pain in the postoperative period. Additionally, this can reduce the recovery phase that usually takes long after abdominal surgery.

“The surgery was successful. We removed the tumour and performed a full diagnostics minimising the risk of recurrence. We discharged the patient on the third day after the intervention,” said Rostislav Pavlov.

London Academy of Trading launches LAT Xchange, a New Trading Forum and Community

Posted on by Global University Systems

The London Academy of Trading (LAT), the UK’s first accredited trading academy, has launched its LAT Xchange, a new global trading forum and community.

Exclusively for LAT students and alumni, the new forum provides an online platform, enabling them to interact with one another in real-time, as well as with LAT’s tutors and traders. Students and alumni are able to share ideas and trade set-ups while staying up to date on the latest news and analysis in the company of fellow traders.

Allowing 24 hours a day interaction, the platform also helps alleviate the feelings of isolation and stress when trading at home alone.

Invitations were sent out to an initial cohort of 250 students and alumni at the end of last month and more than 60% signed up to the platform within the first week.

“This is a new and very exciting development,” says Paddy Osborn, Academic Dean and Managing Director of LAT.

“The response from students has been fantastic and these forums are providing a perfect platform for students to accelerate their learning and for alumni to stay in touch with us as they develop their trading careers.”

Going forward, LAT is looking to increase the number of features and functions of the platform over the coming months, as well as making the service available to an increasing number of students and alumni.

Interactive Pro and Brunel University London launch new online public health postgraduate programmes

Posted on by Global University Systems

Online ed-tech provider Interactive Pro and Brunel University London announced today the launch of three new postgraduate online programmes in public health.   

Interactive Pro has been working with Brunel for several years as part of the university’s mission to expand online learning to provide more flexibility to its students. Since then, the platform has launched several online degrees while being responsible for their global marketing, student recruitment, digitisation and teaching. Interactive Pro has now recruited more than 1,000 students globally, with half originating from countries and territories outside the UK.

The collaboration between the two education experts will see the launch of three new postgraduate online public health programmes, including a Master of Public Health (MPH) and two MSc in Public Health and Behaviour Change and Global Public Health and Social Justice. All three programmes are accessible both part-time and full time with three different starting dates options, and provide an in-depth understanding of health policies, sociological implications and global health concerns.

Students will be expected to develop a multidisciplinary industry-relevant skillset to navigate the complexity of the changing contemporary global public health environment and the range of stakeholders involved. The programmes aim to prepare students for diverse career opportunities across public health and social care, including chief medical officer, epidemiologist and environmental scientist positions.

Commenting on the launch, Peter Reed, Managing Director at Interactive Pro, said: “We are very honored and happy to continue and increase our partnership with Brunel and adapt their academic offer to the current challenges. The pandemic showed us that distance learning can ensure the same great experience as in-person learning and it is Interactive Pro’s mission to make higher education more accessible to all students around the world.”

Dr Nana Anokye, Director of Division of Global Public Health at Brunel University London added: “This is an exciting time for Brunel. It is very important for us to make education more inclusive and extend our online offers across our different areas of expertise noting the contemporary challenges facing Global Public Health. The programmes provide multidisciplinary skills and promote active learning and a research-led approach to train future leaders in public health.”

Scientists propose innovative method to test the effectiveness of coronavirus medicines

Posted on by OLGA ROMANOVSKAYA

South Ural State University (SUSU) scientists have proposed an innovative method for testing the effectiveness of medicines for coronavirus. According to the researchers, it is necessary to focus on the maximum coincidence of the ligand and the receptor. The results of the work have been published in the highly-rated journal “Molecules”(Q1).

Despite the successful treatment regimens developed for coronavirus infection, the search for a cure for the disease continues. Now no drug could block the spread of the virus in the body. Scientists from all over the world are working on solving the problem.

Employees of the Research Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines at South Ural State University are looking for effective substances against coronavirus. They may be contained in drugs at present used in the treatment of other diseases. The project is supported by a BRICS grant, and scientists from India, South Africa, and Brazil are equally participating in it.

The most recent study by the international team examined the complementarity of RNA polymerase in SARS-CoV-2(coronavirus) complexes with ligands.RNA polymerase is an enzyme that reproduces the genetic material of a virus. This is how the virus spreads throughout the body.

It is assumed that drugs for coronavirus block RNA polymerase. Scientists have found that ligands(chemical compounds that possess pharmacological effects) must match the enzyme as much as possible in order for their action to be effective.

“The structures should be as close to each other as possible, in our case- to exclude the interaction of the virus RNA polymerase with human DNA.Our colleagues conducting research on the same topic focus on the energy of interaction.However, the relation of th eelectronic structure of the ligand to the electronic structure of RNA-dependent RNA-polymerasei s more important,” says Vladimir Potemkin, Ph.D., Head, Laboratory for Computer Modeling of Medicines, South Ural State University

This is the active form of the drug Fivapiravir used to combat viral infections. The following step was to analyze the intersection of the electron clouds of the ligand and the receptor. The programs implemented for computer analysis were created at SUSU.

Scientists used the Protein Data Bank, a database of three-dimensional structures o proteins and polymeric acids, to obtain the structure of RNA polymerase. The researchers then calculated the electron density of the enzymes and the ligand favipiravir-RTP.

Rendering to the results of the study, the maximum complementarity was recorded when the ligand coincided with the RNA. The findings can be used to predict the biological activity and examine the mechanism of drug action. Also, in the publication, scientists presented an equation that can be used to test the effectiveness of the effects of other ligands on receptors.

Note that the team’s work to discover effective remedies for coronavirus is not finished. In India, effective substances are being synthesized, in vitro tests will be carried out there, and their Brazilian colleagues will perform them in vivo. The mutability of the virus will be assessed by South African scientists. Once the potency of a potential drug has been proven, production can begin.

Researchers determine the mechanisms of ion diffusion in phosphate glass 

Posted on by NITech

Phosphate glasses are expected to have applications in a variety of fields. To improve their functionality, it is necessary to determine the association between their structure and ion diffusion characteristics. Recently, using first-principles molecular dynamic simulations, researchers from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, have provided novel insights into the ion diffusion mechanisms of phosphate glass, suggesting that ionic conductivity and glass solubility can be manipulated by controlling the morphology of the material.

Recently, a team of researchers from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, led by Dr. Tomoyuki Tamura, has theoretically deciphered the ion diffusion mechanism involved in the hydration reaction process of phosphate glasses. Their study has been published in the Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics journal.

In fully connected P2O5-based phosphate glass, three of the oxygen atoms in each phosphate unit are bonded to neighboring phosphorous atoms. To study the dynamics of ions in the phosphate glass during the hydration process, the researchers used a model made of phosphates with QP2 and QP3 morphologies, that contain two and three bridging oxygens per PO4 tetrahedron, respectively, along with six coordinated silicon structures.

The researchers implemented a theoretical computational approach known as “first-principles molecular dynamic (MD) simulation” to investigate the diffusion of proton and sodium ions into the glass.

Explaining the rationale for their unconventional approach, Dr. Tamura says, “First-principles MD simulation enabled us to assume the initial stage of water infiltrating and diffusing into silicophosphate glass and elucidate the diffusion of protons and inorganic ions for the first time.”

Based on their observation, the researchers proposed a mechanism where the protons “hop” and are adsorbed onto the non-bridging oxygen or “dangling” oxygen atom of nearby phosphates through hydrogen bonds. However, in the phosphate glass model they used, the QP2 phosphate units contributed more strongly to the diffusion of protons than the QP3 phosphate units. Thus, they found that the morphology of the phosphate network structure, or the “skeleton” of the glass, greatly affects the diffusion of ions.

They also noticed that when a sodium ion was present in the vicinity, the adsorption of a proton onto a QP2 phosphate unit weakened the electrostatic interaction between sodium and oxygen ions, inducing the chain diffusion of sodium ions.

The demand for new biomaterials for effective prevention and treatment is on the rise, and phosphate glasses are well-poised to fulfil this growing need. A large proportion of the population, comprising both elderly and younger people, suffers from diseases related to bone and muscle weaknesses.

As Dr. Tamura surmises, “Water-soluble silicophosphate glass is a promising candidate for supplying drugs or inorganic ions that promote tissue regeneration, and our study takes the research in glass technology one step nearer towards realizing the goal.”

Singaporean brothers acquire Boston Business School to offer professional training in technology

Posted on by Editorial Team

Boston Business School, a well established and reputable training academy in Singapore, has been acquired by Singaporean brothers Lee Seng Chong, 25, and Lee Kian Chong, 28.

The school has been rebranded BBS to signify a new direction in the curriculum: BBS will offer state-of-the-art, industry-tailored programmes that are designed to train, upskill, or reskill people with digital skills to take on technology roles.

As businesses reengineer their products, service delivery, and processes with technology, they require people with the requisite skills to facilitate that change and to further develop their technology stacks.

BBS will train people with the skills they require to fill those roles. For example, product managers, who increasingly use data to make decisions and problem solve to build and launch products that meet the needs of customers; or cybersecurity engineers to help a company to secure its information.

“There’s an urgent requirement for people to learn new skill sets, which is evident given the number of unfilled jobs in the cybersecurity, or ICT sectors(3), but skills shortages span most industries,” says Mr Lee Seng Chong, Executive Director of BBS.

“With BBS, we are working closely with a range of industry partners to develop programmes that are designed to train, upskill, or reskill, people to work in such roles.”

A recent vendor survey found that unless people are trained, the number of unfilled roles could multiply by at least five and half times over the course of the next five years.

BBS will launch its first newly developed programmes later this year and aim to equip people to work in the cybersecurity sector.

Togliatti State University finds way to receive magnesium foam

Posted on by Olga Kolpashnikova

The scientists at Togliatti State University (TSU) have developed a unique method to receive magnesium and magnesium alloy based foam materials. The Federal Service for Intellectual Property has issued a patent on the invention.

A lightweight and high strength together with excellent damping properties are the main advantages of metal foams still preserving all values and worthiness of the starting materials. The TSU scientists hold 14 patents on invention relating to porosity based composite materials.

The experimental works carried out by them earlier made it possible to obtain porous aluminum, copper, nickel and even steel. Their latest development is a method for producing porous materials from magnesium and its alloys. This metal has the lowest density and high damping properties compared to other structural metals, and this makes it very attractive for industry.

“Magnesium is difficult to work with metallurgically, it has a low ignition temperature, but it is a very promising material. Our method allows obtaining a light porous metal, the density of which is lower than the density of water. This foam material has high specific strength, it better dampens the impact energy during a collision, mechanical vibrations, for example, vibration” – explains Alexander Kovtunov, professor of the Department of Welding, Pressure Processing of Materials and Related Processes at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (INMASH), TSU.

The essence of the method is that the heated magnesium alloy is poured into a mould with granules of sodium chloride. After solidification, the casting is leached by placing it in a 5-35% aqueous solution of acetic acid. The granules dissolve, and the magnesium casting forms a porous structure.

“The presence of acetic acid allows to get a clean surface of the finished material without traces of interaction with sodium chloride from the granules, it also reduces the rate of magnesium corrosion in the resulting salt solution and ensures the dissolution of corrosion products in the solvent” – Alexander Kovtunov says.

The advantage of the technology is its simplicity, the ability to obtain both simple and complex shapes of castings, low cost, as well as sufficiently high productivity. The method proposed by the TSU scientists makes it possible to obtain porous magnesium with a controlled pore size and both homogeneous and heterogeneous porosity. In October 2020, the authors of the invention filed an application with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and in June 2021 received a patent for the development.

Magnesium foam materials can be used in the aerospace and automotive industries, where it is of great importance to reduce the weight of the structure while maintaining its strength. As Alexander Kovtunov noted, manufacturers of aviation components have already expressed interest in the new technology.

*Damping — raising a disipation of an energy in order to increasingly reduce oscillation within a system.

Thammasat University students among the top 10 semi finalists at ASEAN Inter-Varsity Retail Challenge 2021

Posted on by Thammasat University

A team of Thammasat University students from the B.E. Faculty became one of the top 10 semi-finalists ASEAN Inter-Varsity Retail Challenge 2021 competition held online hosted by the Singapore Management University (SMU).

The “Teletubbies” team representing Thailand comprised of Athicha Korkiertsatean, Pitchaporn Inthisorn, Praewnapa Chaisaengjan, and Thanachote Phokakul.

The team mentioned that participation in the competition significantly improved their hard skills and soft skills, including analytical thinking. data analysis, data structure, communication, and teamwork.

The team also stressed that the competition was a good platform to apply the skills learned in class to real-life situations.

Amrita University’s student team aces European Urban Mobility Hackathon 2021

Posted on by AmritaQS

After a string of successes in 2020, the Brain Bucket student team from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Coimbatore campus in South India aced Urban Mobility Hackathon 2021 organized by the City of Riga, funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Union.

This global hackathon was held virtually from 15 to 17 April 2021 and had prize money of 3000 Euros. The focus of EIT Urban Mobility is to accelerate positive change on mobility to make urban spaces more livable.

AMRITA University’s brain bucket student team presented a Smart headgear built on a modular approach based on requirements that two-wheeler Delivery Personnel in gig economy, motorcycle users, cyclists and children to improve general road behaviour and safety.

Dr Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham said, “Amrita is an innovations hub and this concept of modular approach makes technology integration into our daily lives a lot easier and simpler”.

Team Brain Bucket student members are Darshan M., Gokul Raj J, V.S.S.K Chaitanya, all students of III Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) and Bavesh Ram S., III B.Tech Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE) and mentored by Dr Prashant R. Nair, Associate Professor-CSE, Amrita University, Coimbatore campus, India