On September 27, at 15:00 a.m. in the Assembly Hall of Building 4D (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación), Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “Estimation of Atrial Electrical Complexity during Atrial Fibrillation by Solving the Inverse Problem of Electrocardiography” by Mr. Rubén Molero Alabau are scheduled.
The Director of the Doctoral Thesis is María Salud Guillem Sánchez, researcher of ITACA Institute.
On September 8, at 11:00 a.m. in the ITACA Institute’s Boardroom (Building 8G, Access B, 3rd floor), Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “ANALYSIS OF ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNALS IN Pinus halepensis Mill. AS A BASIS FOR THEIR APPLICATION IN WIRELESS SENSORS FOR FOREST FIRE PREVENTION.” by Mr. Rodolfo Zapata Zapata are scheduled.
The Directors of the Doctoral Thesis are José Vicente Oliver Villanueva and Lenin Guillermo Lemus Zúñiga, researchers of ITACA Institute.
The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the engineering and technology group Sener have signed an agreement today to develop a pilot plant for the generation of green hydrogen, based on a disruptive technology developed by a team of researchers from the UPV’s ITACA Institute and the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ, CSIC-UPV).
After almost ten years of collaborative research, the technology developed by this UPV and CSIC team makes it possible to generate green hydrogen using microwaves. This revolutionary breakthrough is based on the microwave reduction of solid materials at unusually low temperatures compared to other technologies and was published in 2020 in the journal Nature Energy.
The technology, protected internationally through a family of patents, allows electrochemical processes to be carried out directly without the need for electrodes, making its practical application substantially simpler and cheaper. This is achieved through freedom in the device architecture design and in the choice of operating conditions, mainly temperature. These factors allow for greater flexibility and efficiency in the hydrogen generation process. Its development greatly impacted the international level, positioning the Universitat Politècnica de València and the CSIC as global leaders in this technology.
The agreement signed this morning by the rector of the Universitat Politècnica de València, José E. Capilla; the vice-president of innovation and transfer of the CSIC, Ana Castro; and the business director of Energy of Sener, Juan Ivorra, will allow the development of a pilot plant to determine the costs of commercial exploitation of this technology, with a view to its possible industrial implementation.
The event was also attended by researchers Jose M. Catalá and Felipe Peñaranda, from UPV’s ITACA Institute, and José M. Serra, from the ITQ, leaders of the research groups that developed the revolutionary green hydrogen generation technology.
“This achievement is a testament to the commitment of the UPV and the CSIC to innovation and cutting-edge scientific research. The technology developed for green hydrogen generation using microwaves has the potential to contribute directly to the decarbonisation of the energy industry, and this development project with Sener marks an important milestone on the road to its commercial implementation,” said UPV Rector José E. Capilla during the signing of the agreement.
Nora Castañeda, Sener’s Hydrogen Business Manager, added: “We are enthusiastically entering this innovation project with a novel technology advanced by the UPV and the CSIC, where we will contribute our technical knowledge and experience in developing solutions for generating renewable hydrogen. For Sener, it is essential to work on R&D and developing scalable and industrialisable technology, which allows a massive, reliable and optimised deployment of hydrogen as an energy vector”.
About Sener
Sener is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956. It seeks to offer its customers the most advanced technological solutions and enjoys international recognition thanks to its independence and commitment to innovation and quality. Sener employs more than 3,000 professionals on five continents. Sener is active in the Aerospace, Energy, Mobility, Digital and Naval sectors, as well as promoting, through industrial participation, companies in the renewable energy sector.
On July 4, at 11:30 a.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “Development of new markers and classifiers of low computational cost to identify cardiac conditions in ECG recordings” by Mr. Santiago Jiménez Serrano are scheduled.
The Directors of the Doctoral Thesis are Francisco Sales Castells Ramón and José Millet Roig, researchers of ITACA Institute.
Under the title “The importance of not trivialising the Covid19 pandemic: Lessons we should learn to adapt better to what is coming“, the renowned epidemiology expert Daniel López-Acuña will give a talk on Thursday, 1 June at 19:00 at the Polytechnic City of Innovation of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). The event is in collaboration with the Fisabio Foundation and is part of the Medicarama Chair in Technology and Health.
The lecture will address issues of vital relevance. While some may consider the Covid19 crisis to be a thing of the past, studies indicate that we will face new challenges in the near future. In this context, it is crucial to ask ourselves fundamental questions: Are we adequately prepared? What have we learned so far? Will we persist in repeating the same mistakes?
These questions, among others, will be the subject of an enriching debate in the framework of this lecture, in which Daniel López-Acuña will share his vast knowledge. His ability to communicate and transmit information clearly and accurately has been evidenced in several television interventions during and after the pandemic.
The event is open to the public, although it is important to note that capacity is limited. It is therefore recommended that you arrive well in advance to guarantee a place. Take advantage of this valuable opportunity to learn from one of the leading epidemiology experts and reflect on how we can adapt more effectively to the challenges ahead.
If you are unable to attend, you can also follow it online. To do so, you must register here. You will receive an invitation from Zoom to connect.
Gandia City Council, together with the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), EIT Health and the ITACA Institute of UPV, are organising the Gandia Health Campus, a Hackathon in which through different challenges on health and wellbeing, teams must propose the best solutions to the challenges presented.
During a weekend, learning, teamwork and fun will be combined while solving a current challenge in the field of health and wellness, guided by specialists in ChatGPT, no-Code, creativity, innovation and business models.
There will be music, activities, training pills, and everything needed for a different kind of weekend. There will also be lots of PRIZES.
The Hackathon will take place on the 29th and 30th of April in Gandia Beach for 28 hours uninterrupted. The organisers will provide coffee and lunch.
A team from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), belonging to the ITACA-SABIEN group, has taught throughout last week an international course on Big Data in Health organised by the European regional office of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The course, held in Valencia, was attended by around thirty experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia, working on research/knowledge integration and policy development on Big Data in the field of health.
The WHO regional officer for the European region continues its collaboration with the UPV for the second year for this course due to its knowledge and proven experience in Big Data and Health after the implementation and application of these tools in the Valencian health environment, thanks to work developed by the ITACA-SABIEN group of the UPV.
The concept of Big Data is already more than a trend. Moreover, in the healthcare field, the growth in the volume of health-related data generated has been a constant over the last 30 years, with the widespread adoption in healthcare institutions of electronic health data, digital imaging, clinical prescription, patient management, patient monitoring, clinical decision support systems, laboratory information systems and a long list of specialised systems.
“This amount of data generated daily offers a great opportunity for the sector, incorporating Big Data functions as a key element to optimise healthcare systems and reduce inequalities,” explains Vicente Traver, director of the SABIEN group at the ITACA Institute of the Politècnica de València.
Spring School of the WHO regional office for the European region
The course “Impact Training on Big Data in Health Systems” is part of the implementation of the regional digital health action plan for the European region for the period 2023-2030, promoted by the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization, through its Health Policies and Systems Division (HPS).
Throughout the week, different lectures, exercises, visits and group work have taken place, and all attendees have also developed a roadmap to successfully deploy a Big Data for Health use case in their respective national health systems.
“In this way, the course has provided ideas and solutions to improve national health information systems that are directly applicable to the country situations of each participant. We have offered them the keys to boost Big Data, from defining their implementation strategy and ensuring investment to, for example, taking advantage of the enormous potential of Artificial Intelligence in this field,” concludes Antonio Martínez, senior researcher and co-director of the course.
On European Cardiovascular Risk Prevention Day, the PersonalizeAF project, coordinated by the Universitat Politècnica de València through the ITACA Institute, draws attention to the growing number of people affected by atrial fibrillation (AF). This cardiac arrhythmia causes irregular and abnormally fast heart rhythms, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of life and can cause strokes and even death. In fact, people with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke than those without an arrhythmia.
Today, AF affects more than 6 million Europeans and 43 million people worldwide, and this number is expected to double in the coming decades. Consequently, the need for personalised patient treatment solutions, such as diagnostic tools and tailor-made cardiovascular therapies, is multiplying to address this epidemic.
The PersonalizeAF project is funded by the European Union’s H2020 programme. It aims to increase the number of AF patients diagnosed and successfully treated. Through advanced diagnostic tools and personalised treatments, millions of people with AF can benefit from a better quality of life and a reduced risk of cardiovascular events. The PersonalizeAF project, an ITN MSCA initiative, aims to change the AF diagnosis and treatment paradigm through personalised diagnostic techniques and individualised therapies. This multidisciplinary programme, carried out by 15 early-stage researchers based in different European countries, brings together experts from various disciplines, including engineers, clinicians and biologists, all working towards improving AF treatment and patient outcomes.
“As AF becomes more common, it is more important than ever to prioritise cardiovascular health and take steps to prevent heart disease. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise and a balanced diet, can help to reduce the risk of developing AF and other heart conditions,” concludes Maria Guillem, deputy director of the ITACA Institute at the Universitat Politècnica de València and coordinator of the PersonalizeAF project.
Within the framework of the Jeanologia Mission Zero Chair, attached to the ITACA Institute, a Hackathon will be held, which seeks innovative and sustainable solutions for garment finishing in the textile industry and its automation. For the organisation and development of the Hackathon, the Jeanologia Mission Zero Chair has the collaboration of the IDEAS Institute of UPV and the Colegio Oficial de Graduados e Ingenieros Técnicos Industriales (COGITI Valencia).
The Hackathon is aimed at UPV students and graduates from the previous year. The first prize is 4,000 euros and there are also two second prizes of 500 euros.
The registration period ends on March 31, 2023. The Hackathon will take place on April 25 at UPV. The best solutions will be presented at the Jeanologia company on May 2.
Mathematics is one of the fundamental pillars of music; it is the basis, for example, of different musical theories; or of algorithmic composition, a technique based on the use of algorithms to create new scores. And both disciplines have also been the passion, for years, of Luis Nuño, a researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València.
In 2020, Luis Nuño created an innovative musical periodic table, and a few years earlier, he presented different musical abacuses. Now, the Journal of Mathematics and Music publishes the results of the fusion of his two great passions: twelve new theorems for music and engineering (under the title “vectors and matrices of types and classes”). His work makes musical composition even more mathematical. It facilitates musical piece analysis “because many modern works cannot be analysed with classical harmony”.
According to Nuño, “With this work, we have complete information that relates each set of notes to any other and to its complementary. This makes it easier to compose using all this information. Now you have a set of notes with a certain sonority and can establish relationships from their subsets. This approach makes generating this coherence in musical composition relatively easy.” Luis Nuño, who conducts his research activity at the University Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA) of the UPV, emphasises that “It adds more theory to the analysis of contemporary composition”.
As Nuño points out, mathematics has always firmly supported music theory. Thus, for example, twelve notes per octave are commonly used; and, during the period of what is known as “common practice” (approximately from 1650 to 1900), musical compositions were based on “tonal harmony”, namely 3- or 4-note chords belonging to a few types of 7-note scales, mainly the major scale and various types of minor scales. Concerning “post-tonal” music, since the beginning of the 20th century, compositional techniques based on transpositions, inversions and other mathematical relationships between the twelve notes have been used.
“This work goes one step further. Aimed at mathematical musicians and musical mathematicians, it proposes a new way of composing, new theorems, using n notes per octave and relating the contents of the different types of scales for the different types of chords. The results are expressed as vectors and matrices, in a purely mathematical form, facilitating musical composition and analysis,” adds Luis Nuño.
The UPV professor explains that the elements of these vectors and matrices are known as “k-decks”, which are also used in scientific and technological areas as diverse as microscopy, holography, crystallography, radar signal processing and quantum mechanics. “This work transfers these concepts to the field of music theory and composition, reinforcing the relationship that has always existed between mathematics and music”, concludes Luis Nuño.
