26 April 2024
Dynamic Automation in Production: Practical implications of adaptable robotics
Subject: Industrial Production
Lecturer: Marie Jonson
Time: Fredag 26 april kl. 15:15-16:00
Location: ACAS, A-huset, Campus Valla
Abstract: Dynamic automation refers to the implementation of automated systems or processes that possess the capability to adapt and adjust their operations in response to changing conditions, requirements, or stimuli within their environment. Adaptable robotics in this context, denotes a specific subset of dynamic automation that focuses on robotic systems capable of adjusting their behavior, tasks, or configurations to suit changing conditions or requirements, thus increasing system resilience. This lecture explores the transformative role of adaptable robotics in modern production environments. Focused on the practical implications of dynamic automation, it elaborates on the principles of robotics and the evolving landscape of automation in manufacturing. Through case studies and practical examples, attendees gain insights into the design and implementation of dynamic automation systems capable of responding to evolving challenges and lower the threshold for automation in many applications and settings. The lecture also addresses key considerations and challenges in deploying adaptable robotics, offering a glimpse into future trends and opportunities in the field.
16 april 2024
From chemical functionalization to green chemistry of conjugated polymers
Subject: Chemistry
Lecturer: Renee Kroon
Time: 10:15-11:00
Location: K2, Kåkenhus, Campus Norrköping
Abstract: Conjugated polymers are materials that, due to their unique chemical design, allow for interaction with electrons and photons. This property has given rise to the field of organic electronics that encompasses green technology such as solar cells and thermoelectric generators as well as wearable electronics.
With regards to the green design and synthesis of conjugated polymers, advances can still be made. Currently, most conjugated polymers are only processable from harmful organic solvents and are not designed for recycling. In addition, conjugated polymers are still synthesized from fossil fuel-based chemicals, while the selection of bio-based chemicals for conjugated monomer synthesis is not straightforward.
In this lecture, I will show how the enhancement of conjugated polymers with functional groups bestows properties such as mechanical reinforcement, water-solubility, and physical crosslinking on these materials and how these properties can be harnessed to create electroactive cellulose hybrids, which can be separated into the various components at end-of-life. With regards to the green synthesis of conjugated polymers, I will discuss what restrictions the established structural designs of conjugated polymers impose on the selection of bio-based platform chemicals and give examples of platform chemicals that can lead to bio-based conjugated monomers
25 March 2024
Multilevel Determinants of Knowledge Management, Innovation Performance, and Intrapreneurship
Subject: Industrial Engineering and Management
Lecturer: Adis Murtic, IEI
Time: 15:15-16:00
Location: TE-huset, A-building, Campus Valla
Abstract:
In today’s dynamic business landscape, knowledge management, innovation, and intrapreneurship are widely acknowledged as critical drivers for firms’ sustainable development, financial success, and overall survival. Among the fundamental factors contributing to effective knowledge management, innovation, and intrapreneurship lies absorptive capacity (AC). AC refers to an organization’s ability to assimilate and leverage new knowledge — a dynamic capability that is essential for thriving in knowledge-intensive contexts.
To unlock the full potential of AC, it is crucial to understand its antecedents across various organizational levels and its evolution in diverse contexts. By doing so, firms can proactively manage and enhance their innovation performance and intrapreneurial capabilities. In this lecture, we will delve into the impact of specific individual characteristics, work context factors, and managerial actions on AC. Additionally, we’ll explore how teams serve as a pivotal meso-level context where AC becomes both salient and manifested.
24 Januari 2024
Design as a Catalyst for Transformation: Creating Value for People, Organizations, and Society
Subject: Design
Lecturer: Suzan Boztepe, IEI
Time: 15:15-16:00
Location: ACAS, A-building, Campus Valla
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, there has been an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm for what design has to offer in addressing the complex organizational, social, and environmental issues we face today. As design expands into the realm of organization, strategy, and governance, it confronts some vexing questions, not the least of which is the question of how to work its way through this new territory to create value. While we have several design methods and tools at our disposal, what we already know about what it takes to design at the organizational level and beyond is still in its infancy.
In this talk, I will discuss design as a transformative and value-creating force for people, organizations, and society. Based on my research, I will first illustrate how design redefines the existing organizational processes to help build innovation capabilities and alternative futures. Then, I will describe with specific examples what is needed for design to act in this capacity. Finally, I will discuss the multiple challenges and tensions involved in building design capacity as a transformative force in organizations and larger systems.
9 January 2024
Sustainable Batteries: Path to Green Energy
Subject: Applied Physics
Lecturer: Ziyauddin Khan, ITN
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: K1, Kåkenhus, Campus Norrköping
Abstract:
Batteries are electrochemical energy storage devices that convert chemical energy to electrical energy. While lithium-ion batteries have undoubtedly revolutionized energy storage technology, they are not without their drawbacks. Issues like the scarcity of lithium resources, soaring cobalt prices (utilized in electrodes), ethically questionable cobalt mining practices, and the flammable nature of liquid electrolytes raise concerns regarding the alignment of lithium-ion batteries with the sustainable development goal 7 outlined by the United Nations. This goal aims to achieve affordable and clean energy for all. To address these concerns, the development of energy storage technologies utilizing sustainable materials is essential. This presentation explores advanced sustainable batteries, examining their potential and providing insightful perspectives on the future directions for the creation of high-energy sustainable batteries.
20 December 2023
Atomistic understanding of plasticity in refractory ceramics
Subject: Materials Science
Lecturer: Davide Sangiovanni, IFM
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: Planck, Fysikhuset, Campus Valla
Abstract:
The combination of exceptional properties, such as extremely high melting points, elevated hardness, and chemical inertness, has propelled ceramics into applications spanning from household goods to advanced technological uses. However, inherently strong chemical bonds are often also a cause of brittleness, which renders ceramics prone to sudden cracking during operation. The problem of brittleness poses significant concerns, especially in safety-critical applications.
The trade-off between hardness and toughness (resistance to brittle fracture) emerges from the opposing effects of plastic deformation on these properties. Therefore, gaining understanding of atomic-scale mechanisms that govern plasticity becomes crucial in devising strategies for designing ceramics with superior mechanical performance.
In this lecture, I utilize atomistic simulations to illustrate how plastic deformation influences toughness and mechanical strength in refractory transition-metal nitrides and carbides (TMCN), which serve as representative ceramic systems. In parallel, I discuss how the plasticity of TMCN is affected by electronic structures, crystal phase stability, temperature, and extended crystallographic defects. Finally, I propose descriptors that efficiently screen trends in mechanical properties and suggest strategies aimed at tailoring ceramics’ strength and toughness to practical demands.
8 December 2023
Exploring microvascular function in cardiovascular disease: challenges, advancements, and technologies
Subject: Biomedical Engineering Sciences
Lecturer: Hanna Jonasson, IMT
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: Linden, 9th floor, entrance 65, Building 421, Campus US
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally and accounts for about 40% of all deaths. Although cardiovascular mortality has decreased over the last 10 years it remains a major threat to public health. Primary prevention is of central importance to reduce the prevalence of CVD. Estimation of cardiovascular risk is used to assess who will benefit from preventive actions such as medical treatment and/or lifestyle modifications. However, population health and risk factor patterns for cardiovascular events have changed dramatically during the last two decades. This transformation is accompanied by a growing awareness that microcirculatory function is as important as large vessel function. The microcirculation maintains oxygen and nutrient delivery to tissues and organs, and microvascular dysfunction is now known to be associated with both risk factors for CVD, such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as with CVD.
In this presentation, I will give an overview of the microcirculation and the challenges in measuring microvascular function. I will also present optical techniques, protocols, and mathematical modelling to assess microvascular function for an increased understanding of the relationship between microvascular dysfunction and CVD.
20 November 2023
Information Theoretic Security: From First Principles to Future-Proof Algorithms
Subject: Information Theory
Lecturer: Onur Günlü, ISY
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: Systemet, B Building, Campus Valla
Abstract:
The advent of 5G, IoT, and autonomous cyber-physical systems, along with the envisioned 6G world, has heightened concerns regarding privacy and security. Emerging and future systems demonstrate unique characteristics that challenge the prevalent view of information security. Device heterogeneity in terms of resources and capabilities hinders approaches that rely solely on computational security, such as cryptographic methods. Information theoretic security offers solutions to these challenges by providing a framework that enforces information flow security through coding and signalling mechanisms, which is measured using quantitative information theoretic metrics.
In the first part of the lecture, I will provide an overview of the first principles for secure communications and computations. In the subsequent part, substantial gains achieved by employing our information theoretic algorithms in secure integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) applications will be illustrated. I will also demonstrate that by using our algorithms secrecy can come for free, surpassing the secrecy capacity measure commonly used in the physical layer security literature. Next, I will discuss hardware-intrinsic security primitives, called physical unclonable functions (PUFs), that provide a more secure and cost-effective alternative to storing keys in non-volatile memories (NVMs), used in non-repudiation and device identification applications. Our PUF algorithms will be shown to achieve the best secrecy performance in the literature with low hardware complexity. I will conclude the lecture with critical discussions about these results and an outlook for future research.
7 November 2023
The protein structure prediction problem: from Anfinsen's hypothesis to AlphaFold and beyond
Subject: Bioinformatics
Lecturer: Claudio Mirabello, IFM
Time: 15:15 – 16:00
Location: E326, Fysikhuset, Campus Valla
Abstract:
Proteins are macromolecules found everywhere in living beings, they are the tools responsible for most essential functions carried in every organism, from viruses to mammals. In order to better understand the way a protein works, it is important to know its three-dimensional structure. In the past few years, new Machine Learning technologies - neural networks not too dissimilar to those powering ChatGPT - have made it possible to greatly accelerate the process of determination of protein structures by leveraging their evolutionary history. But how do such new technologies work, how did we get to breakthrough tools such as AlphaFold and, perhaps most importantly, what lies ahead for this field?
I will start this lecture by providing a quick overview of protein biology and the problem of predicting the structure of proteins with neural networks. Then, I will showcase current research efforts in extracting biological interpretations out of these neural networks while improving predictions for harder targets and providing a path to integrate predictions with experiments.
12 October 2023
Mathematical modelling - a tool to discover drugs and promote health
Subject: Biomedical Engineering
Lecturer: Peter Gennemark, IMT
Time: 10:15 – 11:00
Location: IMT1, Building 462, Campus US
Abstract:
The lecture introduces and discusses how mathematical modelling can be used to increase knowledge of biology, physiology, disease progression and drug intervention. First, a set of dynamic mathematical models in form of ordinary differential equations of metabolic and body composition systems is described. These models are discussed with respect to their scopes, levels of complexity and types of research questions they can address. Second, mathematical models used in the discovery of nucleic acid-based drugs are introduced and their usage is exemplified. These examples are discussed in the context of typical pharmacokinetic och pharmacodynamic models used in drug discovery, and the importance of translational models that scale between species, such as mouse, monkey and human. Third, the rapid development of advanced in vitro systems is exemplified by a two-organ micro-physiological system and corresponding mathematical description. This system is discussed in relation to how drug discovery can be efficient and ethical, e.g., by reduced dependence on animal experiments. Finally, I give an integrated view that connects the three points above to the research on digital twins conducted by Gunnar Cedersund at IMT.
10 October 2023
Understanding Viral Entry Mechanisms Through Multi-Level Structural Analysis
Subject: Chemistry
Lecturer: Eleonore von Castelmur, IFM
Time: 13:15 – 14:00
Location: Planck, Fysikhuset Building, Campus Valla
Abstract:
Picornaviruses are RNA viruses that infect millions of people every year and cause a wide range of diseases such as the common cold, polio, hepatitis A and foot-and-mouth disease. Viruses are intracellular parasites with a limited set of essential viral proteins. Therefore, viruses must rely on proteins from the host cell (so-called host factors) to copy the genetic material and build new virus particles. Viruses evolve rapidly, which complicates the development of medicines and vaccines. The host factors they depend on to reproduce are therefore attractive targets for developing new drugs. We identified a small cellular enzyme PLAAT3 as a host factor facilitating the transfer of the picornavirus genome into the interior of the cell before the cell senses the virus invasion and disposes of the invader. Remarkably, there appear to be some picornaviruses that carry a homologue to the host factor in their genome, which is then called the 2A protein, raising the question whether this protein has been acquired to bypass the host factor.
In this lecture, I will present our efforts to elucidate how exactly PLAAT3 is involved in viral genome transfer. If we understand its molecular mechanism, we can use the information to develop new antiviral drugs (against several viruses for which there are currently no vaccines or effective medicines). Furthermore, I will also cover how we use integrated structural biology techniques to characterize the structure and function of both human and viral homologues, trying to map the evolutionary adaptation of this protein in picornaviruses and shed light on its role(s) in the viral life cycle, which are poorly understood to date.
